Montreal Market

An incredibly flavorful melon that we are thrilled to introduce after being brought back from the brink of extinction by Canadian farmer Ken Taylor. This pure, true-to-type selection comes from Owen Bridge of Annapolis Seeds, Nova Scotia. The melon is round to slightly flattened with a heavy, silvery netting and deep ribbing. Harvest when slightly under ripe for peak flavor, before the rind turns yellow and fruit softens. The green flesh is thick and melting with a sweet, complex, highly aromatic flavor. 8 inches in diameter, weighing 7-8 lbs. Can be difficult to grow but well worth the effort. This accession matches the description of Montreal Market listed in Burpee's Farm Annual 1881. According to journalist Tori Marlan, the neighborhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) used to be considered “the fruit basket of Quebec.” Orchards once thrived on Montreal’s west side and four horse tracks near NDG provided loads of horse manure for fertilizer. The melons were grown mostly by two NDG families, the Décaries and the Gormans. American seedsman, W. Atlee Burpee, commercialized the melon by 1881. During the melon’s heyday of the early 1900s, Canadian farmers shipped them by train to New York and the Northeast, carefully packed in hay so as not to bruise the flesh. SSE Accession # 133680