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Cross between the mythical Montreal Melon and the American Banana Cantaloup. Its orange aromatic flesh is exquisite. Bred in 1910 in Oka Trappist Cistercian monastery by Father Athanase, Director of the Oka Agricultural Institute. The Oka Melon disappeared after the closing of the school, in 1962, but was rediscovered on Bizard Island, near Montreal. Just were we grow it !
Heirloom variety.
Pkt : 12 seeds.
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Also known as the "Montreal Market Muskmelon" or "Montreal Nutmeg Melon". This mythical green flesh melon with a nutmeg flavor has almost disappeared.
The earliest records come from the Jesuits, who cultivated this variety in the Montreal Plain in 1684. According to the Potager d'Antan : "this melon went through many selections during the 17th Century, before being introduced under the name "Montreal Melon", in 1870. In the 1880s, it was listed as one of the best seller in New England by American seed company Burpee".
Very popular at the beginning of the 1900s and until the 1950s, it was largely commercialized and grown by three families : the Aubin, the Décarie and the Gorman. But lack of labour force, rises in wages and the spreading of the city triggered its decline. As highways paved the island, it slowly faded from our collective memory. When farms vanished from Montreal, it risked being obliterated. Until a journalist found its trace in a seed bank, in the United States.
This melon is a living proof of our seed and food diversity decline. Save your seeds and share them.
Heirloom variety. Listed on Slow Food Canada's Ark of Taste.
Pkt : 12 seeds.