Fruit

The Scary Horned Melon

Written by Edoardo Lancieri
Photos: Marina Zuccarelli, Edoardo and Federico Lancieri

What I really liked about the horn melon the first time was the shape. It looked like a orange star. The horn melon is bright orange with yellow spots and has a spiky surface.
You have to cut in two and then you can use a spoon to eat it.
Inside it looks green with a lot of seeds.
The taste is slimy. It is not very sweet, nevertheless I like the taste.

I ate it a few times and then I researched top find out more about this strangely shaped fruit.

It is called Kiwano and it comes from Africa. However it grows also in America, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Germany and Portugal

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It belongs to the family of cucumbers (cucurbitaceae), that means it is a kind of pumpkin. That’s why posted it at Halloween Time. Furthermore it is also a little bit scary.

Before becoming a fruit, it is a flower. The flower’s colour is yellow.

It is very expensive and it is sold in a nice carton box and tied with a black ribbon.  However it is not so much used in the western kitchen and not anybody likes it (for example my brother Vittorio and my mum). It is astringent and it very healthy, though.

It can retain a lot of water and it can be a source of hydration in its native place Africa.

This is how it looks like inside

This is how it looks like inside