Melon (lat. Cucumis melo) is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae, a species of the genus Cucumber (Cucumis), a melon crop.
The melon is native to Central Asia and Asia Minor. The melon is a heat- and light-loving plant that is tolerant of soil salinity and drought, and does not tolerate high air humidity. Two to eight fruits, weighing from 1.5 to 10 kg, may form on a single plant, depending on the variety and location of cultivation. The melon has a spherical or cylindrical shape, green, yellow, brown or white, usually with green stripes. The ripening period is two to six months.
Melon is an annual herbaceous plant with stalked, round-edged stems with tendrils. Leaves are large, alternate, leafstalkless, roundish-ovate or palmate-lobate, on long petioles. Flowers are ovipotent, pale yellow. Some plants have male flowers or both. The perianth is double, 5-membered (the calyx and corolla are 5-lobed). Several staminate flowers are in the axils of the leaves, which have 5 stamens. Pistillate flowers are solitary, on short pedicels. The ovary is lower, consisting of 3 fused pedicels.
The melon is mostly eaten raw, sliced, with the rind removed. Melon is also dried, dried, and processed into melon honey, jam, and candied fruit.
Melon contains sugar, vitamins A (carotene), C (ascorbic acid) and P, folic acid, fats, salts of iron, potassium, sodium, fiber. Melon is a good thirst quencher.
- King Henry VI of France put the melon on trial for an upset stomach caused by excessive consumption during one of his meals. The melon was publicly found... guilty of insulting the king and was officially cursed. However, the story was later forgotten and the melon began to be consumed again.
- The Roman emperor Claudius Albinus, on the other hand, ate a dozen melons for breakfast and didn't complain about his stomach. "You don't like melons? You just don't know how to cook them.
- Sorcerers and healers from different countries and peoples prepared a love remedy from melon seeds. History is silent about its effectiveness.
In modern medicine, melon is used mainly for colon cleansing (melon flesh has a pronounced laxative effect), which, incidentally, helps in the fight against obesity. The main rule is to eat melon on an empty stomach. For weight loss is also useful the juice of melon in combination with apple and tomato (in a ratio of 1:2:1).
During the gloomy, rainy days, the melon can be a cure for moping - it really removes fatigue and anxiety and improves your mood.
But the melon can be eaten not only. Adherents of folk remedies use melon lotions, compresses, drops, gargles and even baths! Whether all these remedies help to cure many ailments is a big question. But why not try it? Especially since it is usually very pleasant.
Melon juice is also considered medicinal. It helps with runny nose, urolithiasis (it is advised to drink melon juice with decoction of parsley) and expels worms from the body (it is advised to take 1 glass of juice in the morning on an empty stomach).
There are practically no such people. But in some cases it is still worth exercising caution.
- Particular caution should be breastfeeding mothers - the baby may have problems with stools.
- For a long time, it was believed that melon is contraindicated for people with diabetes - because of the large amount of different sugars in its flesh. Whether this is true or not is unknown to the end, so those who still have problems with blood sugar, it is better not to take risks.
- If you have a stomach ulcer or duodenal ulcer, you should also refrain from this delicacy.
