Monday 30 September 2013

Cucamelons

Dear readers,

Back in May I bought myself a packet of cucamelon seeds from Suttons. Since we had a slow start with summer this year, the seeds took a little while to take off. However, we were very lucky with our summer when it did arrive and my cucamelons have bloomed!


Cucamelons, despite their name, do not taste of melon. They taste of cucumber with a sharp hint of citrus. The 'melon' part of the name comes from the fact that they look like baby watermelons. They are native to Mexico, where they are called "Sandíitas de raton" (baby mouse watermelons).

Once they got going, they became a little wild and greedy, stretching their curly arms all over the metal supports and neighbouring plants! The cucamelon fruits themselves, however, do tend to hide behind the big leaves and sometimes a low angle is required to spot them!

From the 10 seeds that I planted, only three germinated into seedlings, two of which grew into tall plants that provided fruits. I think that, including allowing for the odd person stealing a sample, they yielded 60 to 70 cucamelons in total. Not bad for my first attempt at homegrowing!


I showed the top photo in this post to a colleague of mine who is also interested in homegrowing. He gave me a wonderful (and rather unexpected) reaction; I quote "Ah bless, they look lovely! Perhaps you could call them cute-a-melons?". How sweet!

Now I need some help in creating some recipes in which I can let these little beauties shine, both visually and flavour-wise. Please feel free to share any ideas and I'll see what I can conjure up!

9 comments:

  1. There's no getting away from it - they are cute. That's an excellent crop and I'm very envious. To be honest, cucumber is not usually my favourite flavour but I'd definitely give these a go. They put me in mind of a curry that I had years ago made with tinda, cucumber and squash (I think). I didn't get the recipe, though. I think I was too bemused by the ingredients to ask for it.

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  2. I've never heard of these before. They are adorable!

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  3. They certainly are cute! I've not come across these before - it seems a shame to eat them. Personally I'd be happy just to sit and admire them.

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  4. Oh, they look so cute! I have never heard of them before.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  5. These look so cute! I've never heard of them before either and love discovering new things. However, I don't like cucumbers so I don't think I'll like these much.

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  6. Sorry love this looks completely strange to me- out of this world in fact. BUT OH SO GORGEOUS! Please keep us updated of what you decided to do with it. COmpletely intrigued!

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  7. I grew these for the first time this year and they went mad.... The cucumbers got eaten and musk melons didn't do brilliantly (intermittent care and nit enough feeding i expect!) ..... Cucamelons amazing.... Cute and kid sized.......and i think the first time ALL 9 of the kids agreed! Will definitely be growing next yr.....great for paced lunches too..... No slicing or vagging involved. Also used in rhubarb apple and blackberry cucamelon crumble.....again a hit!

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  8. This looks so bright and refreshing.

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