The Palestinian Faqous or Fakkous

For many years, I had been trying to source seeds of the Beit Sahour Faqous or Fakkous. While I have not been able to source that specific variety, I was able to source the general Palestinian Faqous from the Experimental Farm Network, which obtained the variety from Vivien Sansour of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library.

So what is the Faqous? It is a muskmelon that is grown as a cucumber. Though it is likely listed as a Cucumis melo variety flexuous, it has some attributes of the chate variety too. When I say Cucumis melo variety flexuous, I am referring to the longer ‘snake melons’, while when I speak of C. melo variety chate or adzur, I am referring to round, oval or cylindrical varieties – like the carosello. Both the flexuous and chate varieties have very similar characteristics and flowers. The primary difference between the two has generally been the fruit length and texture. With these two characteristics, the Faqous or Fakkous is much more like a chate. My opinion is that the length and texture of the Palestinian Faqous may much more closely resemble the original cucumber-melons that were grown over a millennia ago rather than the long snake melons or some very short carosello varieties.

The Faqous exhibits a flesh color that is very light in color. While it starts out looking light green and very fuzzy, the color becomes lighter as it matures. The texture remains crisp, yet appealingly tender until the fruit becomes mature. Unlike the light snake melons known as the Armenian cucumber or Tortarello Abruzzese Bianco, the Faqous does not go from being tender yet dry to juicy but very hard. The length of the Faqous that I grew was also relatively consistent – around 8-10 inches at prime picking stage.

One of the things I did differently when I grew the Faqous was that I grew it in a 1-yard tote. The soil from a local organic soil supplier (Harmony Organics) comes with the tote, so I decided to just grow in the tote for a season. After the season, I replaced the tote with a 1 cubic yard macro grape harvest bin.

From starting the plant in May of 2022 to collecting the fruit, the plants grew well and produced quickly. Unlike a lot of other varieties I have grown, the Palestinian Faqous matured almost like clockwork. They all set fruit around the same time and were ready to harvest for seed all around the same time too. The flavor was appealing, but not my favorite. I would definitely consume it over the Armenian cucumber varieties that are sold by American seed companies, but it would probably not compete with some of my other carosello varieties. However, given the consistent growth pattern, maturity and fruiting shape – I could see this variety as being very marketable.

Greenhouse Ogurdynya Tohum Russian Cucumbermelon in the Spring

For quite a while I had heard that there was a cucumber-melon that was being grown in Russia. As far as I could tell, it was something that was specific to the region and could be found no where else. Then by happen-chance, around the same time that the threat of war was mounting along the Ukrainian border in February of 2022 – I found the variety for sale on Etsy. I ordered the cucumber-melon cultivar from Oreshka seed, then I crossed my fingers and waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually the seed packets arrived, and I grew it once in 2022. And it was a good thing that I did. The initial seed that I received hardly germinated in the spring of 2023. So I sowed my seed fresh seed early in 2023 and watched the plants grow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as I had noticed previously, the vines were somewhat spiky – much like a Cucumis sativus. However, unlike the C. sativus, the flowers were much more like a Cucumis melo in that the flowers were much more fuzzy than spiky. While I am not specifically sure what variety it is, I believe that it is either an Asian pickling melon (C. melo var conomon) or a snapmelon (C. melo var momordica). 

 

 

 

 

This “Russian cucumbermelon” is somewhat fun to grow in that the vines are very weedy and tend to sprawl from the center. Each plant has thin-stemmed vines that frequently branch off from the primary stem with their own side stems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The light fruit with mottled bands has a somewhat hard crunchy outer layer and a more tender slightly sweet inner flesh when young. As they mature they possess a sweet crisp outer layer with a softer sweet juicy center. The mature fruit eventually end up splitting open as they mature – much more like a snapmelon than an Asian pickling melon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All-in-all I really enjoyed growing the Ogurdynya Tohum Russian Cucumbermelon. They are simple, easy and somewhat tasty. As a whole, they are a lot of fun to grow in a small space, such as a greenhouse.