Living Life on the Edge

While doing our weekly grocery shopping this past weekend, Conor and I were toodling though the produce section when something caught my eye. It was a brightly colored, spiky thing. I had no clue what it was, but quickly decided to investigate it further. As I got to the front of the little display, I was able to read that it was a horned kiwano melon. A what? I'd never heard of such a thing. So, I asked Conor if we should try a new food. I was so enthusiastic about the possibility that he wholeheartedly went along with my plan.

I was rather intrigued by the beautiful coloring of the melon... a little less impressed with the spikes. (Those bad boys hurt a bit!!)

When we got home, I popped it into the fridge (not sure if it was supposed to be served at room temp or chilled) because I prefer other melons to be chilled when I eat them. (Have you ever eaten warm cantaloupe?? EWWWW!) I learned that these spiky beauties come from Africa and the seeds are edible. I also researched how to cut and consume a kiwano melon... apparently, sucking the inner pulp out is a common method. I opted for a "dig in with a spoon" approach, which is also acceptable.

Last night, I realized we hadn't plunged into Kiwano land yet, so pulled it out of the fridge, carefully cut it in half, and braved a bite of the bright green insides. I had NO idea what to expect. Would it be sweet? sour? tangy? bitter? gross? Well, it turns out that horned kiwano melon tastes just like tangy cucumber! The seeds even reminded me of cucumber seeds... tasteless and just kind of there.

Everyone tried a bite.... Eric wasn't over the moon with the melon; the texture was too slimy for him. I believe "gross" was his exact choice of words. Annika loved it and asked for another bite. I had to practically shove the spoon in Conor's mouth to get him to try a bite and he seemed to tolerate the melon; he didn't ask for more, but he didn't spit out the bite either. I thought it was pretty tasty. It was refreshing and pleasantly tart. Glad I ate it chilled; I think the slime factor would have been too much at room temp.

At $4 per hand-sized melon, I doubt we'll buy many of these, but I'm glad we did and learned about a new food. I think a sliced kiwano would be a lovely accent piece to a fruit platter!!

Isn't that a marvelous color combination??