Friday June 24th, 2022

Cantaloupe, Galia, Camouflage (Frog Skin), Orange, Matisse and Canary. Do you know what these words have in common? It might not look like it, but they are varieties of melon. In Brazil, the most popular is the Canary, widely consumed fresh or in the form of juice. But, as Brazilians love to innovate the seeds can be toasted and the peel used in delicious recipes, such as jams.

The melon is an excellent source of water (around 80%) and of vitamins besides having low caloric value. This sweet and refreshing fruit is of Asian and African origin, but it has adapted well to the climate conditions in Brazil, mainly in the Northeastern region, due to the high temperatures and high incidence of sunlight all year round.

According to the Municipal Agricultural Research (PAM), from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in 2020 Brazil produced more than 613 thousand tons of melon in an area of 23 thousand hectares, with an average productivity of 25 tons per hectare.

Considering the total production, the state of Rio Grande do Norte was responsible for over 375 thousand tons, standing out as the main producer of melon in the Country. Right afterwards, we have the state of Ceará with 73 thousand tons and Bahia with 65 thousand tons.

Among the several advantages for cultivating melon in Brazil, the one which stands out is that the harvest season of the main producers of melon in Brazil – Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará – coincides with the worldwide off-season. In Europe for example, the melon is widely consumed in summer, between the months of June and September, and it is exactly in the peak of the Brazilian production.

And speaking of Europe, did you know that it is the main consumer of Brazilian melon, representing great economic relevance for the Country? According to the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), the European market consumes 94% of the Brazilian fruit exports, with a highlight to Spain, the United Kingdom, and Netherlands.

According to data from Agrostat/Mapa, the melon was the most exported fruit by Brazil in the first quarter of 2022, a total of 76.7 thousand tons, an increase of 4% in relation to the same period in the previous year, when 73.8 thousand tons were shipped. And the revenue reached US$ 47 million in the first quarter of the year.

Besides meeting the high demand of the European Union, offering a good variety of melons, Brazil also exports to China, considered the greatest consumer of the fruit in the world. Since 2017, the average volume consumed by the Chinese is of 12 million tons. Only in 2020, the Asian country consumed 12.4 million tons of melon.

After negotiations, the Chinese market was opened to Brazilian melon in the end of 2019, considered a historical milestone for fruit farming in Brazil, as it was the first fresh fruit shipped to China. Besides this, Brazil was the first country in the world to export melon to the Chinese market.

In September 2020, China received the first shipment of the Brazilian fruit. Around three and a half tons of Camouflage (Frog Skin) melon, produced in the region of Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte, arrived at Shanghai Airport.

Being it for internal or external consumption, it is a fact that the melon produced in Brazil is very tasty, fresh and of good quality. Is your mouth watering after imagining this? So, besides eating the fresh melon how about learning the recipe of a sweet to serve for breakfast or in the afternoon snack?

Ingredients:

– 1 unit of melon
– 100 grams of sugar
– 1 unit of lemon

Preparation:

Peel the melon, remove the seeds and cut the pulp into pieces. Then, put the sugar in a pan with a little bit of water to make the syrup for the sweet and stir it at mid heat until it boils. Observe if the melon isn’t already too sweet and if needed reduce the amount of sugar.

When the water boils, add the melon and some drops of lemon and let it cook at low heat, stirring it until the melon dissolves and turns into a thick cream. Taste it to adjust the sugar and lemon. Keep the jam in a recipient and enjoy it!

Meet the producers who export the melon from Brazil – https://frutasdobrasil.org/pb/exportadores/