Alan Krenekt age 7 of Denver  Colo.,

How did the cantaloupe get its name?

Our little round cantaloupe was named for a castle in Aalyi.  The story goes back to when certain delicious melons were grown in the Middle East and nowhere else. Visitors from afar came and tasted the blushing orange colored fruit. and enjoyed it, Traders wondered whether the delicacy would grow in other lands outside its native home,

A few seeds were taken to the province of Anconia in Italy. They were planted in the ground near Cantaloupe Castle. To everyone's delight the seeds grew into plants and finally produced melons. Soon all Europe was tasting the delicious new muskmelons from Cantaloupe Castle. People forgot that the seeds had come originally from the Middle East probably from Armenia. They called the new melon cantaloupe from, the castle where it first took root in Europe.

Cantaloupe was a nice sounding word. After a time it was used to name other melons than those from Cantalupo Castle. We adopted the word to name our little round melon, though our cantaloupe may rot be descended from the original melons of Cantalupo Castle.