Honeydew melon

Honeydew melon is notable for histamine, salicylate, FODMAPs and oligosaccharides. Clear on tyramine, sucrose, lactose, sorbitol, fructose, nickel, oxalates and gluten.

Honeydew melon contains moderate levels of histamine. Honeydew has the thickest skin of the common melons and keeps longer whole because of it - which cuts both ways: it stays sound in the bowl for weeks, and by the time it is cut it may be older than it looks. Once cut, its histamine follows the same clock as the rest.

Honeydew melon contains moderate levels of salicylate. Melon flesh is mostly water, which keeps the salicylate per gram down — but portions are large, and that is what brings it to moderate rather than low.

Honeydew melon contains only low levels of FODMAPs. Honeydew melon is low at a slice and climbs steeply with the bowl. Melons are eaten in volume because they are mostly water, which is exactly the habit that turns a low-FODMAP fruit into a high-FODMAP serving. Watermelon is the cautionary example: same family, and high.

Honeydew melon contains only low levels of oligosaccharides. Honeydew melon has a smooth rind and pale green flesh, and is the one usually cut into the largest pieces. Muir measured fructans in melon at 0.21 to 0.46 g per 100 g across four fruits and does not say which melon it was. Portion is the whole question on this axis for a fruit at that level: the fructan per hundred grams is small, and the hundred grams rarely stops there. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.