Kodungatlur Pottuvellari

Kodungatlur Pottuvellari (Kodungallur snap melon in English) botanically called as Cucumis melo L variety momordica, is the fruit of a local snap melon cultivar at Kodungallur and nearby places of Thrissur and Ernakulam districts in Kerala. In some places it is also called as “Kakkari” or “Palayilpilla”. In Kerala this crop is cultivated for its fruit used for making juice. It is monoecious and during early stage of flowering male flowers are produced in abundance. However, with passage of time, both male and female flowers are produced in more or less equal proportion. The crop Cucumis melo is short in duration. Total crop duration is 75-80 days. The name pottuvellari is derived from the cracking of fruits at maturity. Fruits of pottuvellari cracks and bursts spontaneously on ripening (so, it is called as Potuvellari - in Malayalam *Pottu’ means cracking or bursting, ‘vellari’ means micion type). The cracked fruits are used to make a refreshing juice. It is believed that pottuvellari juice gives a cooling effect to the body. The fruit has a pleasant aroma when it bursts. Fruits will never be cut with knife to take pulp; only cracked fruits will be taken to extract pulp. In snap melon there are many phytochemicals that may have a vast verity of potential health benefits. Also, the fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals. Due to high content of vitamins and minerals it acts as an energy drink in summer season. Very rarely tender fruits are used as salad and as cooked vegetable. Keeping quality of the fruits is strikingly short due to high pulp, moisture content and bursting of fruits at full maturity.


Curcumis melo is an annual, monoecious plant, able to climb with the help of tendrils, but more commonly creeping over the ground. Plants are having indeterminate, viny growth habit. Leaves show horizontal blade orientation. Leaf blade length ranges between 8-15 cm and width anges between 11-22 cm. Apex of the terminal lob of leaf is rounded.


Kodungallur snap melon fruits are cylindrical and long. Fruit length ranges between 30-45 cm, and fruit girth ranges around 32-43 cm. Fruit shape is mainly acute at peduncle end and mostly rounded at the blossom end. Colour of skin at market stage is creamy white or light yellow. Ribs are absent on the fruit skin. Sutures and creasing are absent on fruits. The fruit is slightly pubescent with small white powdery hairs. Warts and stripes arc gencrally absent on fruits. Fruit peduncle length will be more than 3cm. The flesh colour at ripening is creamy white. The fruit weight ranges between 1.5-3.0 kg. Very big fruits weighing up to 5 kg has also been rarely seen.

The snap melon cultivars from other states are mainly having flesh with firm nature and light orange colour whereas Kodungallur Pottuvellari have spongy flesh and creamy white flesh colour..

The major soil type of area of cultivation of Pottuvellari is coastal alluvium. These soils have been developed from coastal tracts stretching from Kodungallur