Saturday, August 25, 2012

Cantaloupe Seed Saving

Saving seeds from cantaloupes is a messy business.  After scooping out the innards you have to clean off all of the slimy stuff.  The way I get it done is by using a lot of paper towels.  Paper towels are good at absorbing moisture and pulling off all of the stringy stuff that sticks to it when you first get it out.

After that you have to let them dry in the open air.  Paper towels are good for this too.  After they're dry then rub them to get any residue left over off of them.

I like to use a little glass bowl after this step so the seeds have good air circulation.  The tips will look dry while the main part of the seed will keep some color.  If this starts to turn then you can pretty much toss it.  The above picture is a good example of seeds that are still in good shape.

They are also second generation seeds which should pretty well imitate the fruit it came from.  It goes without saying then that if you don't like the fruit you grew then you probably don't want the seeds.  Of course it could have crossed with something else in your area but chances are it didn't.

1 comment:

  1. We always keep the seeds of our cucurbits, be it squash, cucumber or melons. As kids, i used to eat the stored squash seeds of my mother, but i hide them very well and throw the peels without trace, haha!

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