The Andes Melon (アンデスメロン) was developed by a Japanese nursery company in 1977. This is short for “Anshin-des Melon”. Anshin-des Melon literary means “worry free melon” in Japanese because this breed resists mildew, fungus and other diseases better than other existing varieties. But the name anshin-des would not appeal to most Japanese people, so they dropped “shin” and just called it Andes Melon. Of course this makes it sound like it came from the Andes Mountains, but the nursery company did not have a problem with this – probably because that sounds foreign and stylish. Personally speaking I love the name Anshin-des Melon 100 times better than Andes Melon. lol
