Sprite Melons

Sprite Melons are small. They are usually 1 to 1 ½ pounds (450 to 680g), but often less than a pound (450g.) When 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 cm) wide, they will weigh 1 pound (450g.)

Inside, it has firm, crisp white flesh. The flavour is a combination of apple, pear and honeydew melon.

They are very sweet. The sugar content is between 14 and 18 percent, though in some of these melons it can go over 18 percent (for reference, watermelon is 10 to 13 percent sugar.)

The skin ripens from a pale cream colour to mottled yellow, with netting near the bottom. The melons will sometimes display a few circular brown cracks at the end opposite the stem when the melon is on the upper end of its sugar content range.

The rind will have brown horizontal markings near the bottom when it is ready to harvest, indicating that the sugar content is peaking.

The melons are grown in North Carolina June through to September inclusive.

Sprite Melons are promoted by the Cunningham Research Station in Kinston, North Carolina, but the seed comes from the Sataka Seed company in Japan.

Cooking Tips

Allow one per person.

Nutrition Facts Per 300 g
		Amount
Fibre		1 g
Sugars		27 g
Protein		1 g

Sources

Augostini, Nick. Marketing Specialist. North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Sprite Melons: North Carolina’s Newest Melon. Retrieved August 2012 from http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/commodit/horticul/spritemelon/

Spencer, Jason. Sprites revolution moves on, slowly. The Free Press. Kinston, North Carolina. 26 July 2004.

Yancy, Cecil H. Jr. Melon an alternative for tobacco? Southeast Farm Press. 5 June 2002.