About This Variety
Charentais is THE French melon — the one you find in every market in France, the one that makes people who've tasted it in Provence get a faraway look in their eyes. Dating to around 1920, it's a small, smooth-skinned melon with subtle sutures, pale green to cream-colored rind, and deep orange flesh that is intensely sweet and almost perfume-like in its fragrance.
One critical difference from American cantaloupes: Charentais does not slip from the vine. It won't detach at the stem when ripe — you have to cut it. Judge ripeness by fragrance (strong, sweet aroma at the blossom end), slight skin color change, and a small crack forming where the stem meets the fruit. At 75-85 days, it's reasonably early for such an exceptional melon.
How to Save Seeds
- Let the melon ripen fully on the vine — since Charentais won't slip, watch for strong fragrance, yellowing skin, and slight softening. Leave it a few days past peak eating for seed saving.
- Cut the melon open and scoop all the seeds into a bowl of water.
- Swish the seeds around — viable seeds will sink to the bottom, while pulp and duds float to the top.
- Pour off the floating pulp and empty seeds.
- Rinse the remaining good seeds in a fine strainer under running water.
- Spread seeds in a single layer on a plate or screen to dry for 1-2 weeks in a well-ventilated area.
- Store in a labeled envelope in a cool, dry place. Include variety name and year.
Tip: Unlike most cantaloupes, Charentais must be cut from the vine — it doesn't "slip." For seed saving, let the fruit stay on the vine until the skin is distinctly yellowed and the fragrance is overwhelming. The extra ripeness means better-developed seeds.
Cross-Pollination Warning
WARNING — Your garden has a cross-pollination problem.
You are growing Charentais, Minnesota Midget, Honey Rock, Sweet Delight, Noir des Carmes, G1 saved seed, Edisto 47, Hale's Best, and Ambrosia — all in the same garden. Every single one of these is Cucumis melo. They WILL freely cross-pollinate via bees and other insects.
What this means:
- The melons you eat this year are perfectly fine — cross-pollination does not affect the fruit of the parent plant.
- But seeds saved from any of these melons will carry genetics from whatever pollinated the flower. That could be any of your other 8 melon varieties.
- Plants grown from those seeds will produce unpredictable crosses — not true Charentais. You might lose the non-slip trait, the distinctive fragrance, or the smooth skin.
For pure Charentais seed, you need one of:
- Hand-pollination + bagging: Tape female flowers shut the evening before they open. In the morning, hand-pollinate with male flowers from the same variety, then re-bag. Most reliable method.
- Grow only one variety: If you want pure seed from Charentais, it needs to be the only Cucumis melo in the garden that year.
- Isolation distance: Minimum half mile separation from other Cucumis melo varieties if not bagging flowers.
Bottom line: Unless you hand-pollinate and bag, any seed you save from this melon this year will be a garden cross, not true Charentais.
