Horned Melon

I spotted a weird fruit in the produce section of my local grocery store. I had never seen a fruit quite like it, but I had since moving to California seen similar fruits of various sizes; from lychee to durian. It was yellow and covered with plenty of sharp spines. I bought one with my regular groceries, and the check out employee asked me, "Is this good?" I replied, "I have no idea."

So a couple of days later, I was feeling brave. I pulled it from the fridge and having no idea what else to do with it. I sliced it like a kiwi and found that it was about the same color inside. It had pale seeds like those you might find in a "seedless" watermelon, and without knowing what else to do, I took a scoopful on my spoon and tasted it.

It was marvelous. It's described in various ways, but to me it tasted of cucumbers and limes with the texture of gelatin. So this horned melon, or kiwano as it is sometimes called, was not cheap. So, having my propagation trays not quite full of Passiflora seeds, I decided to save a few from my new fruit. I popped those into the little wells, and went on a business trip. Three days later, I have nearly 100% germination in all of the wells. I was not expecting that. Nevertheless, it looks like I won't need to buy that fruit anymore!