SWEET PERSIAN MELON (ḴARBOZE)

Persian melons, or Odesso melons, known as "ḵarboze" (خربزه), are cultivars of Cucumis melo, a type of vigorous-growing plant melon with long and slender stems. Different varieties of melons, including Cucumis melo L. (ḵarboze), are described by Biruni (440 A.H./1048 A.D) and Shahmardan b. Abi’l-Kheir al-Razi (490-495A.H./1097-1102A.D.) and their characteristics are discussed by Jamali-ye Yazdi (580 A.H./1184). In Nozhat name-ye ‘ala’i, Shahmardan (490-495 A.H./1097-1102 A.D.),  mentions that the term "ḵarboze" is Pahlavi-Persian and means the smell that overpowers everything, "harboozd هربوزد". by Biruni (440 A.H./1048 A.D), Shahmardan (490-495 A.H./1097-1102 A.D.), Jamali-ye Yazdi (580 A.H./1184), and Serāj Shirāzi (857 A.H./1453 A.D.).

Recipes:

The extract of sweet Persian melon (ḵarboze) is mentioned as one of the good sizing materials alongside other sizes in Resaleh-ye Joharrieh (837 AH/1433 A.D.), Resāle dar Bayān-e Tariqe-ye Sāḵtan-e Morakkab va Kāḡaḏ-e Alvān (13th AH/119th  A.D.), Resāle dar Bayān-e Kāḡaḏ Morakkab va Ḥall-e Alvān (Mid- 9th A.H./15th A.D.), Golzār-e Ṣafā (950 A.H./1543 A.D.), and Ḵaṭṭ va Morakkab (978 A.H./1571 A.D.). Seyrafi mentions sweet melon juice as the second-best material among the six sizes after mucilage of psyllium in Golzār-e Ṣafā (950 A.H./1543 A.D.):

دومین خربزه شیرین است   آبش آهار پی تزیین است

 Second is sweet melon, with its grace,
Its water is a sizing embrace.

After mentioning psyllium size in his work Ḵaṭṭ va Morakkab (978 A.H./1571 A.D.), Hossin Aqili Rostamdari continues:

. دیگر آنکه آب خربزه شیرین را بگیرند وکاغذ در آن کنند

... and furthermore, they take the juice of a sweet melon (ḵarboze) and dip the paper in it for sizing.