Saving Seeds from Store-Bought Melon

Last month I picked up a yellow melon from Sam’s Club — normally, I’m not a big fan of melon or cantaloupe because they just don’t have as much sweetness or flavor that I always imagine they do in my head. But since the melon was yellow, I thought I’d like to give it a try and maybe this variety has a difference in flavor that I might prefer.

I confess, I did find it more intriguing than the typical green melon or orange cantaloupe, and I picked it up mostly due to it being different, but also, it did not disappoint. 😌 The flavor was a bit sweeter.

After I sliced the melon in half, I knew my mom would’ve wanted to save the seeds to see about planting some of her own.

Saving seeds from melons or any of the squash family is a task that I typically do not have as much patience for, not the way my mother does. But I know it would mean a lot to her to have a new variety of melon seeds to get her hands on, so I pushed myself to the task anyway.

This devil woman is rubbing off on me more and more every day. Hmmmph. 😤

So I thought I’d share the steps for saving seeds, removing that web and film that holds them together, and storing them.

My first attempt went horribly wrong which was entirely my fault because I let them sit on the counter too long. I’d cut the melon in half, scooped out the seeds from that half, and left them in a container on the counter. I wasn’t exactly sure how to separate and prep them, and day after day I kept forgetting about them until it was too late and they needed to be discarded. (Aka they got moldy and gross and attracted too many flies.)

When I scooped out the seeds from the other half of the melon (simply by using a spoon), this time I set them in a dish and put them in the fridge. That’s not a necessary step, but I knew I wouldn’t be getting to it right away and I wanted to prevent them from going moldy and spoiling.

When I finally got a chance to ask my mom how to save them, here are the steps she gave me:

1. Scoop out the seeds using a spoon and set aside in a dish.

2. Remove the webbing and film from the seeds by rubbing the seeds between your fingers under water. You’ll feel the film rinse away beneath your fingers.

3. Place the seeds on a paper towel to dry. You can pat them dry as well to speed up the process.

4. Once the seeds are completely dry, store them in a ziplock bag. Date and label the bag and store in a cool, dry place.

As you can see, the process is much simpler than I made it out to be in my head. 🙄😂 Truly, it took maybe 10 minutes.

And now we’ll get to grow lots and lots of yellow melon!

The process above would be the same for any seeds you might be trying to save. Cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, eggplant, peppers. The idea is that you must remove any filmy residue and get them thoroughly dried.

Now that you’re armed with how to save your seeds from store bought fruits, tell us in the comments below which fruits you’re excited to save your own seeds from!