Cucumis melo var. chate
Origin: Eastern Mediterranean & Italy (via US)
Improvement status: Breeding population
Seeds per packet: ~25
Germination tested 10/2025: 95%
Life cycle: Annual
The Jewish Seed Project (of which EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman is one member) is a collaborative of Jewish growers, organizers, storytellers, and researchers operating through the Jewish Farmer Network. The goal of the project is to build relationships among ourselves and with culturally relevant seeds. Given our overlapping histories of exile, diaspora, landlessness, and assimilation, our central guiding question is "What is a Jewish seed?" When we began our exploration of this question, we decided to focus initially on a single plant, described frequently in both the Torah (the Hebrew Bible) and the Talmud (the primary source of Jewish law and theology, other than the bible): the chate melon, known in ancient Hebrew as "qishut" (singular) or "qishuim" (plural).
During their exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people longed for the foods that reminded them of their previous home: "We remember the foods we used to eat in Mitzrayim [Egypt]. The fish, qishuim, the melons, and the garlic and the leeks. And now our gullets are shriveled and we have nothing at all.” [Number 11:5] That word "qishuim" is often translated as cucumbers, but another passage in the Talmud — in which it's mentioned that qishuim are fuzzy — makes clear the person lamenting was remembering chate melons. Interestingly, it seems this type of melon is still quite popular in Egypt.
Familiar to EFN customers who have grown or read about the Palestinian 'Fakous' seeds we offer, chate melons are melons that grow and are treated like cucumbers. This year we're also offering the 'Facussa' of Carloforte, Sardinia, another chate melon, and we encourage you to read about that one too, if you're interested in learning about the history of another particular type. The Jewish Seed Project a few years ago set about collecting a diverse range of chate melons, from both the USDA's National Plant Germplasm System and private sources, with the intention of growing them all together and perhaps eventually selecting for a new variety or varieties that match the ancient descriptions and are adapted to our bioregions.
This "diaspora mix" (as we've been calling it) of qishuim features seeds descended from a plant that we believe was tended by our distant ancestors, though in the intervening millennia it has mostly been stewarded by others (especially Palestinian, Egyptian, and Italian growers). As far as we can tell, few Jewish growers have known this plant since the time of the Talmud (~500 CE). We're so grateful to our regional cousins who have lovingly and continuously tended to this plant for the past couple thousand years. Without them, we would never be able to make a project like this happen.
This specific mix was grown in a “Diaspora Garden” at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub in Hurley, NY, during the summer of 2024. Diaspora Gardens are where the Jewish Seed Project's research growers intentionally plant different varieties from across the diaspora together and encourage them to cross-pollinate in an effort to cultivate something new — perhaps a new cultivar of the qishuim, or maybe just a diverse diasporic population like this one. Jewish growers from across the U.S have participated in seed trials and supported this project. Just as our farmers from different branches of the Jewish diaspora are reconnecting with each other, so too — it feels like to all of us — are these seeds reaching through history to reconnect with their far-flung relatives from across the world. We are beyond grateful for the opportunity to learn from these seeds and to begin building relationships with them.
Have we answered our original question, "What is a Jewish seed?" Are these chate melon seeds "Jewish"? Who knows! We're Jews, so asking one question inevitably leads to countless more. But we do know that we've developed a really interesting population of a really wonderful type of melon with a really long history that's intertwined with our own, as well as many others'. And, for now at least, that'll have to be enough.
Huge thanks to everyone who has been involved with this project!
NOTE: In addition to offering our usual grower's share of the proceeds of these seeds to the Jewish Seed Project, we will be donating 25% of the proceeds to the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library. We do this in recognition of the untold generations of Palestinian farmers who stewarded and continue to steward their cherished "fakous" melon — one of many chate melons present in this grex — and in support of the important work PHSL does to maintain Palestinian foodways and lifeways in the face of grave threats to both.
GROWING TIPS: Grow as you would any other melon or cucumber. These mostly seem to be sprawling vines, so they shouldn't need a trellis. The fruit are best eaten when still just an inch or two in diameter. The fuzz can be rubbed off or eaten. Seeds generally aren't ripe until the fruit splits open or rots.
