Odd Foods: A… ki-what-o?
A horny melon, a melano, the African horned cucumber, jelly melon, hedged gourd, English tomato, or kiwano (a registered trademark of New Zealand’s Prinut Inc.), is a vine of African origin, grown for its fruit, which looks like an oval melon with horns and is very decorative. Once native only to a region of the Kalahari desert, the horned melon is now also grown in California and New Zealand.
Apparently this melon has been known for more than 3,000 years, but has only been sold commercially in the last several years. Of note, it has a remarkable shelf life and can be stored at room temperature for up to six months.
I purchased this fruit in a Shop Rite food superstore, located on the borders of the Catskill State Park in New York state: truly a testament to the steady globalization of the world and re-confirmation of our amazing quality of life here in the United States.
It was impulse that delivered the prickly egg into my basket, and it was awe that registered when the fruit rang through as $5.99. “This thing better be as incredible on the inside as it is on the outside,” I remember thinking.
When picked green, and allowed to ripen to an orange color, the fruit tastes like a sweet cucumber. The fully ripe melon has an orange rind with rigid spikes. The yellow-green flesh has a gelatinous consistency and contains whitish seeds similar to those of a cucumber. I can see quite easily how it might be known as the African horned cucumber.
One Response to “Odd Foods: A… ki-what-o?”
Shop Rite? “Are you serious”