Melon in the context of "Bulgarian dialects"

Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria).

Podolia is penetrated by Southern Buh river and bordered by the Dniester River to the south. It features an elongated plateau and fertile agricultural land covering an area of 40,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi). The two main rivers serve as important trade channels. Podolia is known for its cherries, mulberries, melons, gourds, and cucumbers.

Helmand (Pashto and Dari: هلمند), known in ancient times as Hermand, Hirmand, and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering 58,584 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi) area. The province contains 18 districts, encompassing over 1,000 villages, and roughly 1,446,230 settled people. Lashkargah serves as the provincial capital. Helmand was part of the Greater Kandahar region until made into a separate province by the Afghan government in the 20th century. It is largely populated by Pashtuns.

The Helmand River flows through the mainly desert region of the province, providing water used for irrigation. The Kajaki Dam, which is one of Afghanistan's major reservoirs, is located in the Kajaki district. Helmand is believed to be one of the world's largest opium producing regions, responsible for around 42% of the world's total production. This is believed to be more than the whole of Myanmar, which is the second-largest producing nation after Afghanistan. The region also produces tobacco, sugar beets, cotton, sesame, wheat, mung beans, maize, nuts, sunflowers, onions, potato, tomato, cauliflower, peanut, apricot, grape, and melon. The province has a domestic airport (Bost Airport), in the city of Lashkargah that was heavily used by NATO-led forces. The former British Camp Bastion and the U.S. Camp Leatherneck is a short distance southwest of Lashkargah.

Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth.

In the field of nutrition, the term signifies the practice of germinating seeds (for example, mung beans or sunflower seeds) to be eaten raw or cooked, which is considered more nutritious.

Generally, fleshy fruits can be divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of a respiratory increase at the onset of ripening. This respiratory increase—which is preceded, or accompanied, by a rise in ethylene—is called a climacteric, and there are marked differences in the development of climacteric and non-climacteric fruits. Climacteric fruit can be either monocots or dicots and the ripening of these fruits can still be achieved even if the fruit has been harvested at the end of their growth period (prior to ripening on the parent plant). Non-climacteric fruits ripen without ethylene and respiration bursts, the ripening process is slower, and for the most part they will not be able to ripen if the fruit is not attached to the parent plant. Examples of climacteric fruits include apples, pears, bananas, melons, apricots, tomatoes, as well as most stone fruits. Non-climacteric fruits on the other hand include citrus fruits, grapes, and strawberries (However, non-climacteric melons and apricots do exist, and grapes and strawberries harbor several active ethylene receptors.) Essentially, a key difference between climacteric and non-climacteric fruits (particularly for commercial production) is that climacteric fruits continue to ripen following their harvest, whereas non-climacteric fruits do not. The accumulation of starch over the early stages of climacteric fruit development may be a key issue, as starch can be converted to sugars after harvest.

Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, flesh encompasses muscles, fats and other loose connective tissues, but sometimes excludes non-muscular organs (liver, lung, spleen, kidney) and typically discarded parts (hard tendon, brain tissue, intestines, etc.). More generally, it may be considered the portions of the body that are soft and delicate. In a culinary context, consumable animal flesh is called meat, while processed visceral tissues are known as offal.

In particular animal groups such as vertebrates, molluscs and arthropods, the flesh is distinguished from tougher body structures such as bone, shell and scute, respectively. In plants, the "flesh" is the juicy, edible structures such as the mesocarp of fruits and melons as well as soft tubers, rhizomes and taproots, as opposed to tougher structures like nuts and stems. In fungi, flesh refers to trama, the soft, inner portion of a mushroom, or fruit body.

The cuisine of the Southern United States encompasses diverse food traditions of several subregions, including the cuisines of Southeastern Native American tribes, Tidewater, Appalachian, Ozarks, Lowcountry, Cajun, Creole, African American cuisine and Floribbean, Spanish, French, British, Ulster-Scots, German, Italian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Elements of Southern cuisine have spread to other parts of the United States, influencing other types of American cuisine.

Many elements of Southern cooking—tomatoes, squash, corn (and its derivatives, such as hominy and grits), and deep-pit barbecuing—are borrowings from Indigenous peoples of the region (e.g., Cherokee, Caddo, Choctaw, and Seminole). From the Old World, European colonists introduced sugar, flour, milk, eggs, and livestock, along with a number of vegetables; meanwhile, enslaved West Africans trafficked to the North American colonies through the Atlantic slave trade introduced black-eyed peas, okra, eggplant, sesame, sorghum, melons, and various spices. Rice also became prominent in many dishes in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina because the enslaved people who settled the region (now known as the Gullah people) were already quite familiar with the crop.