North America Edition
Melons are usually in season in the summer. However, there's a certain melon that remains in season until December, and it's fittingly called ‘the Santa Claus Melon’. The medium-sized fruit has a skin with flecks of yellow that tend to get deeper in color as it ripens.
The fruit is native to Spain and South America, where it goes by the name Piel de Sapo, meaning "toad skin". But Santa Claus melons are grown in California and Arizona in the U.S. as well.
While the fruit does grow in a warm and sunny climate, Santa Claus melons tend to stay fresh for at least two months after they are harvested. This means that the late fall melons can often still be found around the time of Christmas, hence their name.
According to Delighted Cooking, the festive name of the melon doesn't mean that it reaches its peak season in December. The name simply indicates the thick skin of the fruit helps it stay fresh all through summer, after which it can shipped to colder parts of the world where it will keep for another few months.
Source: mashed.com
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
