Surprised by cucumbers, part II

[Monique Reed]

Now that the fruits on this vine are a little larger, it's obvious these boogers aren't going to be cukes. The foliage is exactly like cucumber. The fruits started out small and pimply as cukes will, but they're growing up fat, mottled, and with definite tubercles and horns.

They're kiwano melons! The laugh's on me. My compost heap gets all the leftover props from our college-level Economic Botany lab, so it's full of exotic propagules. Since I had a taro root sprout last year, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find kiwanos. Apparently zone 8b is just fine for them.

I've tasted them and don't care for them as is. Does anyone have a good recipe?

Monique Reed College Station

[spamtrap]

Ah. I looked these up:

's a whole lot of info on them, but no recipes:

source says the fruit 'lacks taste' and is 'eaten as a supplement'.

Two recipes are here:

recipes:

one above is for a raita, and it sounds really good to me.

I've seen them in supermarkets and never knew what they were, much less how to use them. Next time I see them, I'll buy one... However, now that I know what they are, I'll probably never see them again in the stores...

You know, the supermarkets really ought to have a printed sheet with explanations and recipes for the 'exotics' - I think they'd sell more of them if they did.

If you want more recipes, you can Google like this (note punctuation):

"horned melon" + recipe OR

kiwano + recipe

Pat

[Monique Reed]

Thanks. Yup, I know how to google, but I don't know anyone who has ever actually *eaten* a kiwano and liked it, so I was hoping for first-hand experience. I think they taste like something that's not ripe, just sort of green and a little tart. Not sweet enough to be fruity and not vegetable-y enough to be a veggie. They look cool, though.

M> Ah. I looked these up:

[spamtrap]

They sure do. Very weird.

Pat

[Frogleg]

Many do. It appears to me from a rough Google that kiwano are sort of stand-alone food items (the raita thing *did* look good, but possibly just as good without the addition of kiwano :-) There aren't many avocado 'recipes' either. I mean, people *have* come up with soup and ice cream, but it's not anything you'd invite someone over for. You got y'r avocado and y'r avocado puree (guacamole), and that's pretty much it. Either you like avocado or you don't. Kiwano has a lot of 'specialty' appeal. Very cute looking, particularly with the contrast of exterior with interior, but of minimal culinary interest if you don't like the taste.