What we call cantaloupe in the United States is actually known as muskmelon most everywhere else and some parts of the world call them rock melons. Cantaloupe in Europe are a different species altogether from our cantaloupe. They are named after the papal village in Italy, Cantalup.

But our U.S. cantaloupe (muskmelon) history starts in Persia or Afghanistan or is it Armenia. Actually food historians aren't sure but melons have been identified in ancient Egyptian paintings dating back nearly 4500 years. To back that up, melons are mentioned in the bible when referring to the good food in Egypt (Numbers 11:5).

In the first century CE, Pliny, The Elder, a Roman naturalist and writer, wrote about a plant called melopepo that grows on a vine that does not hang like the cucumber, but rather lies on the ground. He describes its fruit as spherical and yellowish and even notes that it detaches easily from the stem--all qualities that describe the cantaloupe.

When the Roman Empire collapsed, Italy no longer received shipments of melons from Asia Minor. Historians tell us it wasn't until about the fourteenth century that melons returned to Italy, still in their orange-size portions. At that point the Italians took their cultivation seriously, and melons began to expand in size and weight.

During the fifteenth century, cantaloupes were growing in popularity in the southern part of Spain. Melon seeds were brought in by the Arabs who settled in Andalusia. From there they were introduced to the New World on Columbus's second voyage in 1493 when he took melon seeds to Haiti. One of his journal entries dated 1494, records that he found cantaloupes growing in the Galapagos from a planting only two months prior.

The Indians of Central and South America were delighted to discover a new fruit and eagerly adopted cantaloupes into their cultivated gardens.

By the 1600's cantaloupes were grown in North America from Florida to New England, but the melons did not attain popular acceptance until the 19th century. It was not until after the Civil War, which ended in 1865, that cantaloupes became a major crop in United States.

George W. Swink was a farmer near the town of Rocky Ford, Colorado who grew watermelons and cantaloupe and shipped them as far as New York City in the late 1800's. Many believe this was the beginning of "commercial" production in the U.S. and also the beginning of the fame of Rocky Ford Melons.

Some actors have even mentioned the fruits. W.C. Fields said this about bald guys "He has a head shaped like a Rocky Ford Cantaloupe" and Lucile Ball had Rocky Ford Cantaloupe delivered to her dressing room. And, the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel had Rocky Ford Cantaloupe on its menu back in the early 1900's.

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