Melosel, a uniquely S'gor gourd

The Star

3 days ago

(Front, from left) Wan Mohammad Zulkarnain, Kamarul, Azahar and Izham having a closer look at the fruiting melosel plants at Kampung Endah Agricultural Centre in Banting.
Those who have tasted the melosel, a melon variety developed specifically for Selangor, have described it as sweet and crunchy like an apple.
To connoisseurs, the delicate orange flesh is likened to maple syrup, best paired with thinly sliced cured meats and soft cheeses like brie and camembert.
To promote this fruit, Selangor Agriculture Department held a two-day event called 'Kuala Langat Melon Day' for the first time at Kampung Endah Agricultural Centre in Banting, where the largest melosel farm with 10,000 plants is located.
Visitors were allowed to go into the fertigation plots and pick their own fruits at a promotional price of RM10 per kg.
Booths livened up the event, offering melon-based products such as ice-cream, juices, coffee, traditional kuih and pickles.
The idea for pickles came about as Syed Muhammad Amirudin Syed Dawal wanted to rescue unripe fruits that did not meet quality standards.
Syed Muhammad makes melon pickle from unripe fruit.
He ended up winning not one but two innovation awards for his efforts.
On the origins of the melon, guest-of-honour Selangor infrastructure and agriculture committee chairman Datuk Izham Hashim said: 'This is my baby.'
In telling the history of melosel, Izham, who had just taken up his post as state executive councillor in 2018, recalled meeting Chua Kim Aik, a seed expert in Batu Arang.
Chua is chief executive officer of Green World Genetics (GWG) Sdn Bhd, the only local company that conducts crop seed development studies in the country.
'I told him, I wanted a melon seed just for Selangor and specifically, the flesh must be orange in colour.
'This is because in the psychology of colour, orange induces hunger.
Children enjoying melon ice-cream during 'Kuala Langat Melon Day'.
'I also told him that I wanted the melon to be sweet, fragrant and for its outer skin to be yellow so that it would look unique,' he said.
Izham said Chua asked for two years to develop the seed, during which many plantings were carried out to ensure the seeds were stable enough to produce healthy plants.
'When Chua finally called, he had several clones ready for us to select.
'In terms of texture, there were two types – one was soft like the Yubari melon.
'Another was crunchy. We picked the latter,' said Izham.
The seed was launched by Tengku Permaisuri Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin, who also gave the fruit its name.
The result of the first crop of 500 seeds was successfully produced at Selangor Melon Farm in Sungai Besar, after two months from its planting in 2023.
Falling within the Sabak Bernam Area Development Project, this would be the first location where the melosel was planted commercially using smart farming methods by local entrepreneurs.
Sweet and crunchy melosel developed specifically for Selangor.
'At present, the melosel is categorised as a premium fruit, fetching a market price of RM15 per kg, the highest among locally grown melons,' said Izham.
In answer to whether the fruit was ready for the export market, he said this market sector would have to wait until production was able to fulfil local demand, as the melosel was gazetted which meant it could only be planted in Selangor.
Kamarul Iqbal Ismail, managing director of KMK Agro Global Produk which runs a melosel farm at Kampung Endah Agricultural Centre, said its production would be increased to 30,000 plants for the upcoming planting season.
Also present at the event were Selangor Agriculture Department director Azahar Ibrahim and his deputy Wan Mohammad Zukarnain Baharudin.