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Piel de Sapo
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Posted by joecessna DFW Texas (My Page) on Sun, Jun 20, 04 at 19:49
| Has anyone grown this melon in North Texas? I'm tryng to line up some varieties for next summer and this little varmint caught my eye at Whole Foods. I won't pay the $4.99 apiece they want there, but if it does well here I'll give it a spot for next years trials... |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| Not in North Texas, but in SC. I "smuggled" some seeds back from Spain once upon a time, and my dad planted them in his garden. They were excellent until the gophers found them. The gophers thought they were most delicious! !*#!*! gophers! |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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Thanks!
Are they similar to a Canary melon, or more like a honeydew? Joe |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| I'm growing a variety of canary melon for the first time this year. So I can't really say for certain, but I would guess they would be closer to a canary melon. I think canary melons are spanish melons too if I'm not mistaken. The flavor is definitely different from a honeydew. The flesh color is somewhat like a honeydew, with a golden color around the center where the seeds are. They are extremely sweet and flavorful! My dad pulled a bunch early when the gophers got into them, and some were very hard, but still extremely sweet even though not quite ripe. They will keep a long time too. They start getting some golden tones mixed in with the green as they get ripe. The flavor reminds me more of a watermelon than any type of cantaloupe or honeydew I've eaten, but the texture is more like a cantaloupe or honeydew. I hope you will have success growing them. Keep me posted. I would be curious to hear what you think of them. I have a couple of Piel de Sapo vines this year too. Pickle worms got mine last year. |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| Don't know about N. Texas, but if other melons can grow well there, it should do great. It's a very long season melon, like 110 days, but that shouldn't be a problem for you. Fert1 had a very good description of the flavor - I am so inept at describing such things. I just wanted to mention that we ate a Piel de Sapo melon at Thanksgiving last year - it kept for about 2 months in the pantry, and that was a real treat at that time of the year. So, we are growing more this year, and will try to store them even longer.... |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| Piel de sapo (toad skin) is the most widely available melon in Madrid markets, along with a kind of green-fleshed canteloupe. They're often served for dessert, and when people mention melon they almost always mean this one. There's a place outside Madrid called Villaconejos (Rabbit Town) whose claim to fame is this melon, they even have a museum and a festival dedicated to it. I cracked up when I saw a catalog from a U.S. heirloom seed company that said this melon is very rare. I imagine it would grow great in Texas, since the climate would seem to be similar to Madrid's. |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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Krogers had a half dozen of these, so I grabbed one. I'll have it with dinner tonight and if I like it I'll save seeds. I doubt this would be a hybrid.(?) I'm pretty dissapointed with my squash this year (again, the borer) so I'm going to concentrate more on melons.
Thanks for the information; Spain is on my short list of places to to visit. Great history, climate and vino... |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| It was during my time in Spain that I first discovered this wonderful little melon. I was an exchange student to Madrid, Spain for one semester in college. I was lucky and got placed in the home of a very wonderful family. There were 7 children in the family, and they hosted exchange student just because they enjoyed it and loved kids. They were actually fairly wealthy and owned one of the largest distilleries for Anis Brandy. The lady of the house discoverd I liked the melons, and so she served them for dessert with just about every meal. I wanted so much to find out what type of melon it was, so that I could try to find it in the USA, but everytime I would try to ask the name, I was only told, "melon", as if it were the only melon in the world, and I think to the Spaniards it is. I can understand why. I don't think I've ever eaten any melon that was better. It wasn't until I got Amy Goldman's book that I was able to identify the wonderful melon that I loved so much. |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| Great melon! White meat with just a tinge of gold around the relatively small seed cavity. The texture is similar to a honeydew but it has a cleaner taste that is still very sweet. This is a definite must grow for next year. Joe |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| I'm really intrigued by the sound of this melon. I found a listing for them with Heirloom Seeds and the price looks great -- I may try them next summer if I can make the space! I'm always astonished at the price the local organic and specialty stores charge for any melons that are out of the norm -- I'd probably do better to grow my own. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Heirloom Seeds -- melons
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| Hi, I was conducting some research on a melon I had not tried or even seen in our shops before and come across your web site. The Melon in question is a Piel de Sapo. When I saw it in the shop I thought it would probably be like a watermelon inside, red and full of black seeds. I cut it open this morning and was supprised to find it looked like a Honeydew but when I tasted it the flavour and crispness was that of a watermelon - my senses were in overdrive trying to figure out what it was so to aid my senses I relied on good old Google - the fountain of all knowledge in my house! It is there I found your website and thought I would join in. It looks as if you have had this melon in your part of the world for a while but as mentioned above this is the first time I have seen it in the UK & I love it. Unfortunatley my garden is only 3 meters square and therefore do not have the space to grow anything other than contained flowers! Kind Regards
Sarah |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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- Posted by leslie_c 7, harrisonburg,Va. (My Page) on
Tue, Aug 14, 07 at 9:46
| I just bought one of these in my supermarket! It seems very hard. Can anyone tell me how to know when it is ripe enough to eat and how do I ripen it? |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| When they are ripe enough to eat, they will have tinges of yellow in the rind that was not there previously. I have been raising an 85 day hybrid of this Santa Claus type melon. It is called St. Nick and is very delicious. |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| There are about 100 cultivars of "Spanish" melon, including the bright yellow Canarys. I doubt that you will find a Piel de Sapo in a supermarket in North American. They will be a newer cultivar and probably a hybrid. Ther are huge ongoing breeding programs in Israel and Jordan with this type of melon. I suspect that some is also being done in Spain. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Spanish melons
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| I bought a Piel de Sapo this weekend at our local Walmrt. It was grown, according to the label, in South Carolina and is by far and away the best melon I have ever tasted. Sweet but not overwhelming and juicy enough I thought of buying another just to try putting it thru the juicer. leslie_c, perhaps yours is not ripe enough. The one I purchased was dark green with a bit of yellow, about the size of a footbal and quite "ugly". According to Wikipedia the name translates as "toad skin" ...That's more than apt! |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| Hi All. I found these melons at a Costco store here in southern British Columbia, apparently imported from Brazil. We took a couple home (different stages of ripeness), but could not get past the 'bland' state. I then did a fair amount of research, and have started some from seed, and will transfer out in early April. From what I've read/heard/etc., it's of medium sweetness, has a crispy texture, 110 day season, and a long shelf life. As for the seeds offered by "a U.S. Heirloom" company, might they be offering original cultivars, as opposed to hybrids, which are the norm now for fruit as well as seed?? Anyhoo, below is a link you might be interested in, an experiment to grow diffent melons (incld. sapo) as a crop in Colorado. Cheers! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Colorado State University (horticulture)
RE: Piel de Sapo
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I'm intrigued by all the talk of the Piel de Sapo. This is a new one for me. I'm going to shop for some heirloom seeds. As for space to grow them, a friend of mine grows melons on a fence and uses old bras to hold them up as they grow up the fence. Sounds crazy I know, but it works.
Brenda |
RE: Piel de Sapo
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| If they're "bland" and "crispy", they're probably not ripe. Pretend that they're sweet cucumbers, peel and eat. Our big dog pulled up our plant one year, trying to pick a melon. After being scolded for pulling up the plant, he would no longer would eat the burpless cucumbers (peeled) we offered to him so he wouldn't pick those off the vine. We had some sweet Piel de Sapo "cucumbers" in the fall. Our neighbors from Mexico used to treat immature honeydew as cucumbers. |
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