Kiwano fruit is an appetizing tropical exotic on the site.
The kiwano plant is also called horned melon or African cucumber. This is a herbaceous liana from the gourd family, subspecies - cucumber. This fruit has horns in the form of spikes on the surface - hence the name, horned melon. A ripe kiwano fruit necessarily has a yellow-orange skin and yellow-green, jelly-like flesh with a tart taste and texture very, very similar to a cucumber. Its length can reach 15 centimeters. It has numerous seeds that reach a length of one centimeter. Look at the kiwano in the photo illustrating the appearance of the fruit:
The territory and natural habitat of this fruit is Africa, and to be more precise, the territory south of the Sahara: mainly Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Nigeria. Currently, it also actively grows in California, Mississippi, Chile, Australia (it was brought here at least 70 years ago) and New Zealand.
Growing kiwanos from seeds at home
Seedlings of the plant appear at a temperature of 25 to 35 degrees Celsius. Germination may be delayed if the room temperature is kept at 12 degrees, and inhibited if the temperature is below 12 or above 25 degrees.
After the appearance of the first shoots, it is necessary to transplant them into open trays or beds. The best time for planting seedlings is spring, when the soil and air temperature rise to 15 degrees Celsius. Growing kivano at home from seeds can be both a stage in growing seedlings and a full-fledged plant development cycle.
Compared to the cucumber, it is not as demanding on soil, but prefers good drainage and nutrients in the mail. The main advantage of the plant is that it is resistant to many diseases characteristic of the pumpkin family. Like most plants, the kiwano is propagated in three ways: cuttings, seeds, and seedlings. We propose to pay attention to the most fruitful - with the help of seeds. The vegetative period of the plant (from the first shoots to full maturity) is an average of 75-77 days. As a result of growth and development, the creeping stem can reach a length of 3 cm.
It is recommended to prepare seeds for seedlings a month or two before the planned landing in an open place - April-May is quite suitable. The day before, it is necessary to soak the seeds in a container in a pre-prepared solution of sodium humate or epin-extra. The seeds should swell, after which they are immediately placed in pots or other containers with a diameter of at least 8-10 centimeters, which are filled with a very nutritious soil mixture. Before planting in open ground, it is recommended to keep them in the greenhouse for at least a couple of weeks (this is approximately mid-May). We strongly recommend transplanting to the beds only after the frosts have completely passed.
The fruit is planted in two or three rows (the distance between them should be at least 40 centimeters) at a distance of 35-40 centimeters between them.
When landing on open ground, it is necessary to choose a place that will reliably protect the seedlings from the wind, and tie it with twine to vertical racks. As it grows, it is necessary to twist the stem on its surface.
To get beautiful fruits and not ruin the seedlings, you should know a few important rules for care: loosen the soil around the plant, regularly weed weeds and water 2-3 times a week during dry and hot summers.
How are kiwano fruits eaten?
The kiwano fruit is traditionally used in Africa as a staple food ingredient and has great potential to address nutrition and food security, promote rural development and sustain land use, along with Acanthosicyos naudinianus and Tsamma. This is one of the few opportunities to get moisture during a drought in the Kalahari Desert. In Northern Zimbabwe, kiwano is used as an appetizer or salad, and very rarely for decoration. It can be eaten at any stage of ripening, but it is worth knowing that when fully ripe, the fruit bursts with great force to release the seeds. Let's look at the question of how Kiwano fruits are eaten and what this exotic fruit can be combined with.
Many compare the taste of kiwano to the combination of cucumber and zucchini, or the combination of banana, cucumber and lemon. There are those who believe that the taste of the fruit is similar to an unripe, diluted banana. If you want to increase the flavor of this ingredient, we recommend adding sugar or salt. Some also prefer to eat the peel, which is high in vitamin B and fiber. Modern cooking also uses the fruit in some dishes, but if you decide to go raw, it's best to suck out the pulp and discard the seeds.
In salads, it is best to combine kiwano with pepper and salt, in lemon sauce. To add zest to the drink, they are often used in the production of fruit and milkshakes. Due to its low calorie content, it is often recommended by nutritionists in special diets and for weight loss.
Kiwano is also currently promoted as a delicacy fruit for export to Western European and US markets because of its long shelf life and visual appeal that lasts for many months when kept at room temperature. Currently, commercial varieties of the fruit have a rather bland taste, which severely limits its potential as a delicacy fruit and its use in food. If its nutritional quality can be improved by increasing sugar, acidity, and flavor, then it could possibly be marketed as a new fruit.
The material was prepared by Sysoeva Irina
Increasingly, on the shelves of supermarkets you can see outlandish fruits and vegetables that are imported from various countries of the world. Despite the fact that such delicacies are prohibitively expensive, they are sometimes in greater demand than the usual vegetables and fruits. Today we will discuss african fruit, find out what it is, how it is used, how it is grown from seeds, how difficult it is to grow in your garden.
Introduction to exotic fruit
It is for this reason that many people believe that most of the product after cleaning will go into the bin, respectively, only a small part of the pulp will remain, which will not cover the costs.
However, it is worth noting that the African cucumber has good fruiting, so if the fruit is grown for personal use, then you should not think that resources and land will be spent to end up with a kilogram of an edible product.An important question is what tastes like horned melon. Kiwano has a specific taste that cannot be identified with any familiar fruit in the same way as if you first tried a banana and tried to compare it with what can grow in the garden. 
Generally speaking, the fruits have a sufficient amount of moisture and a sweet and sour taste that quenches thirst well. When you try it for the first time, you will feel similarities with cucumber, melon, banana and lime, but each person has his own analogy, so in this case everything rests on a subjective opinion.
Did you know? The plant is used not only to produce fruits, but also as an ornamental plant, planting it in personal plots.
Seed preparation before planting
Before sowing, the seeds must be soaked for a day in a pre-prepared solution. To do this, we buy in a specialized store that has an identical name (do not confuse it with potassium humanate).
You can also use the fertilizer "Epina-extra", which gives the same effect. 
Sowing seeds for seedlings
It should be said right away that it is impossible to sow directly into open ground even if you live in southern latitudes. Recall that in the spring there can be serious temperature drops, respectively, there is a risk of losing all the seedlings at once.
Location selection
Kiwano requires a large amount of space, as it has accelerated growth and "spreads" quickly enough. However, like a regular cucumber, it does not interfere with support to make it easier to collect products.
Important! In no case should you plant under the dense crowns of trees, since you will not get a harvest before frost.
Therefore, it is worth planting on a flat surface near a mesh fence or wall. You need to leave a fairly large area for planting. In this case, the priority will be precisely a warm, calm place, and not the presence of a support. 
Landing pattern
The optimal landing is considered as such, if per 1 sq. m. there are no more than two bushes. The standard picking pattern is 40x35 cm.
How to care for an African cucumber
Now let's talk about the care of the African cucumber in the open field. Let's discuss the main points on which the productivity of the bushes depends.
Watering, weeding, loosening
Watering. You should not think that if a plant is from Africa, then for it you need to “arrange” the Sahara in the garden. Under such conditions, the nod will quickly die, and you will waste your energy in vain. You need to water at least 2-3 times a week, if it is not very hot outside.
If the sun bakes so that the earth cracks, then we water daily, checking the soil near the bushes for moisture with a stick or special electronic devices. 
Please note that watering is carried out before sunrise or after sunset, otherwise the plant will suffer greatly from such irrigation.
Weeding. Be sure to remove all weeds in the area where the crop grows. Do not forget that for the formation of the green mass of kivano, a large amount of mineral and nutrients is required, which are drawn from the soil.
Loosening. Loosening allows you to give the roots access to oxygen. It should be carried out when the earth is covered with a crust. This is best done in the early morning or evening. You can’t do this during the day, otherwise your actions will lead to the evaporation of a huge amount of moisture from the soil.
Did you know? The fruit contains a large amount of ascorbic acid, as well as a complex of other vitamins and minerals. Calorie content of 100 g of products - 44 kcal. This determines the usefulness of the fruit for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases and obesity.
Escape pinch
If you are not growing horned melon, then pinching is a must. 
Be sure to pinch the side shoots, otherwise the volume of green mass will affect fruiting. We form the bushes so that they look like a circle or, if so intended, stretch into one continuous line.
Hilling
It is not an important part of the care, however, if the soil overheats during the day, or just as strongly supercools during the night, then it does not hurt to hill up to protect the roots from overheating or hypothermia.
Hilling also helps retain moisture in the soil, which is especially important for southern latitudes, where summers are very hot.
top dressing
Top dressing is carried out without fail, while it is necessary to introduce not only organic matter, but also “mineral water” in order to ensure rapid growth and a set of green mass. 
From organic matter, you can make an infusion, or chicken manure. From it is better to give preference to complex ones, which include the NPK complex.
Garter
If you use a support, then you can vertically tie the main stem like a bee pollinated cucumber. So you can put the bulk up, while saving space. You can also use cucumber mesh, which is great for kiwanos.
You can do without a garter, but in this case, the vine will take up a lot of space, and when growing in a greenhouse, you certainly cannot do without a garter.
Harvesting
The fruits begin to be harvested in August, when they turn yellow. At this stage, they are perfectly stored, but the taste leaves much to be desired, because they taste like an overripe cucumber. 
To get the most delicious fruits, you need to cut them at the moment when they turn bright orange. There is no need to wait to collect a large number of fruits at once, as this will slow down the formation of new ones.
After harvesting, "horned cucumbers" are stored for no more than six months without freezing or refrigeration.
How to eat kiwano fruits
Having talked about how to grow kiwano, it is worth mentioning how to eat this fruit.
As you might guess, the peel is not used for food, so it must be removed. However, the edible part is so tender that it will not work to separate it from the skin like orange slices. Therefore, the fruit is cut into two parts, and the jelly-like "filling" is selected with a spoon. 
Then it can be salted or sweetened, added to various dishes. If you like the taste of fruit, then you can use it without mixing with anything.
helped
Unusual exotic fruit Kiwano comes from the African continent. Currently, the plant is grown in other countries, for example: Israel, South America, as well as Italy and New Zealand. Due to its unusual appearance, the kiwano fruit is called horned melon - it is very similar to an ordinary small melon, covered with sharp thorns. But still more often it is called African or sweet cucumber, as its pulp resembles the taste of a cucumber and a banana at the same time.
The plant is unpretentious, almost does not get sick, normally tolerates flaws during care and gives a noble harvest of fruits. Many gardeners grow it in their yards. Since the plant looks like a large liana, it looks very nice with vertical gardening and can become a real decoration of the garden.
In addition, the fruits are good for health, help in the treatment of certain diseases. Therefore, do not neglect the opportunity to grow a kiwano in your area or at home. Let's find out more about kiwano fruit, useful properties, growing at home:
Useful properties of kiwano
The pulp of an exotic fruit has a high-quality, rich vitamin composition. For example, there are vitamins C, A, as well as almost the entire group B (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9). There are minerals there: magnesium, potassium, calcium, there is also iron, manganese, copper and phosphorus, which is so valuable for the skeletal system.
The fruits of the African cucumber contain a lot of water, so when they are consumed, the water balance is restored. Due to the high content of potassium, the fruits have a beneficial effect on the health of the heart and blood vessels. Kiwano has a great effect on digestion, improves intestinal motility, naturally cleanses it of harmful, toxic deposits. In its homeland in Africa, it is used to stop bleeding, as the pulp of the fruit has an astringent effect.
Experts recommend using kiwano for people who are overweight or obese. The thing is, there are only 44 calories per 100 g of fruit pulp. Therefore, they are included in the menu of a variety of diets. They are safe to eat for diabetics. Fruit juice with pulp is recommended to drink during a course of chemotherapy. This will stop the increased hair loss.
The pulp is used by cosmetologists. For example, a mixture of kivano, bee honey with the addition of sour cream or curdled milk, egg yolk is a wonderful base for a cosmetic mask. With this tool, you can smooth the skin, give it elasticity and freshness.
How to grow kiwano fruit?
It is best to propagate the plant through seedlings. To do this, remove the seeds from a ripe, undamaged fruit. The day before sowing, be sure to place them in an Epin-extra solution or use sodium humate. After that, plant the swollen seeds in a pot with a light, breathable, nutritious soil mixture. The planting depth is approximately 3 cm. Place the pot on a well-lit windowsill, let it stand there for exactly a month, until the time comes to plant the seedlings in a permanent place in the garden.
Plant seedlings in a greenhouse around mid-May. Landing in the ground is possible only after the threat of frost has passed. After planting in a permanent place in the ground, place young plants where there are no drafts, where cold winds do not blow. Kiwano creepers grow very well along the fence, and also weave along the latticed walls of the gazebo.
Be sure to tie young plants to a vertical trellis so that the vine easily braids them. It will look very beautiful when the flowering of the kivano begins, and then the fruiting.
plant care
For good growth, development of the plant, be sure to loosen the soil around it, weed out the weeds. When it is hot outside, there is little rain, water them often - at least 2-3 times a week.
Feed your plants regularly. This should be done with organic fertilizers (mullein solution, herbal infusion, chicken manure solution) every 10 days. Periodically apply mineral fertilizers, such as Kemira wagon. It is diluted with water in a ratio of 2 to 50 g per 10 liters. settled water.
Remove young fruits (ovaries) more often, this stimulates the growth of new fruits. When the growing season is over, remove all the fruits, and lay the grass in the compost. Leave two or three well-ripened fruits for seeds.
Growing at home
If you do not have the right land to grow these exotic fruits, but really want to enjoy their refreshing taste and beneficial properties, try growing kiwanos at home.
A loggia or balcony is best suited for this. But just a well-lit place in the room will do. Just keep the vine out of direct sunlight. The plant needs diffused light so as not to burn the leaves.
In order for the plant to feel good and comfortable at home in urban housing, plant the plant in a large pot or other container (5-25 liters). Just remember to feed once every two weeks.
For fruits to appear, carry out manual pollination. To do this, use a soft brush to transfer pollen from one flower (male) to the stigma of another (female). It is better to carry out such pollination from morning to noon, since by the evening the female flowers are already fading.
Do not let the leaves burn out, cover the nod from the scorching sun. For this, a regular piece of gauze is suitable. With good, caring care, the plant will gratefully respond to you with beautiful flowering and a good harvest of useful fruits. Good luck, dear flower growers!
Kiwano is an exotic fruit native to Africa, which has become very popular and loved by many. Due to its unusual appearance and shape, its fruit is quite difficult to confuse with some other tropical delicacy. The kiwano fruit is somewhat reminiscent of a cucumber in appearance: it has an oval shape and a surface covered with pimples. The inside of the fruit is the core, which consists of a light green jelly with seeds.
In appearance, this plant is very similar to a vine. It is often used as a decoration in the garden. This is an unpretentious prolific exotic, resistant to diseases and pests. Other names are African cucumber, horned melon.
Benefits of Kiwano
Kiwano fruit, unlike other exotics, has a diverse composition. 100 g of pulp contains: 89% water, 2% protein, 1.1% fat, 7.5% carbohydrates, 0.4% ash. In addition, the fruit is rich in B, A, C vitamins, as well as micro and macro elements (potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, manganese, zinc). This is a low-calorie product - only 44% of calories, therefore it is suitable for dietary nutrition.
How to use Kiwano?
Universal exotic is added to snacks and various desserts. After all, it is difficult to determine whether it is a fruit or a vegetable.
Many are interested in the question of how to eat the Kiwano fruit. The fruit is divided in half and the pulp is removed with a spoon. Do not throw away the peel - it can be dried. In the future, the crust is used in the form of a decorative bowl for desserts or a bowl, in which various dishes are laid out or cocktails are poured.
Those who have tried kiwano not for the first time, being its gourmet, prefer to eat fruit in all kinds of salads. Pieces are used to decorate sandwiches and snacks. In addition, beautifully cut fruit is spread on ice cream, cocktails, various cakes and jellies. Its sweet and sour taste will add spice and amazing taste to any dish.
Kiwano can be eaten not only in its original, that is, raw form. The fruit is often salted and pickled.
For pickling, unripe fruits are used. Despite the fact that this exotic bears some resemblance to a pickled cucumber, according to gourmets, this exotic is much tastier than a green pickled vegetable.
Kiwano Salad Recipes
Growing kiwanos at home and in the garden
Kiwano can be easily grown in our garden, on a balcony or even on a windowsill and get quite a good harvest. The conditions should be as follows - protection from direct sun (best - partial shade), from winds and drafts, sufficient watering. If the bright sun illuminates the vine at noon, then brown spots will appear on the leaves, and the ovaries will fall off. The soil should be very loose and permeable to air. The stems need support, but they need to be tied up. It is best to grow near a fence, wall, under a fruit tree. Some grow directly on the ground, where the stems spread.
Seeds can be purchased at seed stores or removed from ripe fruit, dried, held in a nutrient solution, and planted in seedlings. In all other respects, caring for a kiwano is the same as for a cucumber: watering, weekly top dressing, pinching side shoots. Fruiting begins 2 months after sowing seeds.
The plant almost does not get sick, but reacts very poorly to temperature changes. Therefore, it can be grown in a pot or tub and brought in at the first cold snap. If the loggia is closed, or you grow a kiwano at home, then you need to pollinate the flowers with a brush in the morning.
The most suitable variety for growing in the middle lane is the Green Dragon, which tolerates night cooling quite well.
Among the edible cucurbits, kiwano has recently become widely known ( Cucumis metuliferus), or, as it is also incorrectly called, anguria (this is a different species - Cucumis anguria). The plant has several other names: Antillean cucumber, horned, or jelly, melon. Kiwano is a close relative of the cucumber. Its green fruits have a "calico" shirt, outwardly similar to a cucumber with large spikes, a specific cucumber aroma and a lemon flavor. When ripe, the fruits become bright orange. Kiwano pulp flavor combines kiwi, banana and lemon flavors with a melon flavor. A plant of South American and Asian origin. Edible forms and varieties are widespread in many countries of Central and South Africa, Europe, and North America.
What is it, a nodding plant. The plant is unusually decorative. It is a curly, strongly branching liana with thin, fragile, furrowed stems, which reaches 3-5 m in length under favorable conditions. Leaves three-five-parted with hard pubescence. The roots are weak, the flowers are small yellow, numerous. Fruits on long stalks, oval, green, the size of an orange, covered with tubercles, usually turn yellow by seed ripeness. In some forms, the fruits have large tubercles, on which black spikes form. The color of the fruit is very diverse and beautiful. The seeds are small, flat, cream-colored, remain viable for up to 7 years.
How to use kiwano. Its fruits have nutritional and medicinal properties. They are rich in ascorbic acid, P-active substances, contain alkaline mineral salts, organic acids and sugars.
Young ovaries at 5-7 days of age are salted and preserved like cucumbers. Pickled fruits are considered a delicacy and deservedly compete with similarly prepared gherkins and cucumber pickles. At a later age, the fruits increase markedly in size, it is these that are stored fresh for a very long time, at room temperature - almost until spring. The thorns, though large, are soft, the bark is thick, but loose, the edible inner part of the fruit remains greenish, acquiring a refreshing sweet and sour taste.
Ripe fruits are cut in half and the contents are scooped out with a spoon. Fruit and vegetable cocktails are prepared from this mass, it is added to salads with fish and cheese. Kiwano juice has an astringent property, due to which it is used in traditional medicine for healing wounds. Kiwano fruits contain substances that strengthen the walls of blood vessels, remove toxins and radionuclides from the body, and increase immunity. These fruits are recommended for use in the diet of patients with cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. In cosmetics, face masks are made from kiwano juice mixed with yogurt and honey.
What you need to know about the properties of the kiwano plant for those who are going to grow it. It is less demanding on soil fertility than cucumber, but prefers good drainage and nutrient availability. It is a short-day plant, photophilous and thermophilic, does not tolerate frost, and temperatures below 12°C, growing in shaded and acidic areas retard its growth and development. The optimum temperature for kiwano is 25°C. In favorable years, its fruits ripen in the open ground of the Central region of Russia.
Unlike other cucurbits, it is resistant to many harmful diseases and is almost not damaged by pests. Propagated by seeds, cuttings and seedlings.
In the State Register of Breeding Achievements, the first domestic variety of Kiwano is registered, which can be grown on private farms both in open and protected ground. This Green Dragon - an annual dioecious plant with a growing season from germination to fruit ripeness of 75-77 days. Creeping stems 3 m long. Leaves slightly dissected, green. Fruits are oval with a tuberculate surface, light green when unripe and yellow when ripe, weighing an average of 150 g, stored after removal up to 6 months. The yield with a planting pattern of 40x35 cm is 3.6 kg per 1 m2.
How to grow kivano in central Russia. Best through seedlings. Seeds for seedlings should be sown a month before planting in a permanent place (in late April - early May). The day before sowing, they are soaked in a solution of epin-extra or sodium humate. The swollen seeds are immediately placed in a pot with a diameter of 8-10 cm, filled with a light nutrient soil mixture, to a depth of 3 cm.
Seedlings can be planted in a greenhouse or under a wall in the middle or at the end of May, in open ground - only after the frost period has passed. In a greenhouse, kivano is planted in 2 rows with a distance between rows of 40 cm, and between plants in a row of 35-40 cm. In open ground, it should be placed in places protected from the cold wind, along a mesh fence, buildings or arbors (the optimal distance between plants while 50-80 cm). Seedlings must be tied with twine to a vertical trellis and periodically twisted around it as the main stem grows clockwise. Kiwano grows quickly and looks very impressive during flowering and fruiting. When caring for plants, it is important to loosen the soil around them, weed regularly, and in hot and dry summers, water 2-3 times a week.
Kiwano plants are very responsive to top dressing, which should be carried out regularly, every 10-12 days, with mullein or grass infusion, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5 (or chicken droppings - 1:15). It is better to alternate organic top dressing with mineral ones, using complex mineral fertilizers ( Kemira wagon-2- 50 g per 10 liters of water). Useful foliar top dressing on the leaves with any complex fertilizer with trace elements at a concentration of an aqueous solution of not more than 0.25%.
With a strong thickening, the side shoots are pinched to the ovary (those with an empty flower - male flowers - can be cut out completely). Young ovaries at the age of 4-7 days are removed in a day or two. The sooner they are harvested, the faster new fruits grow. Several fruits are left on the seeds until fully ripe. At the end of the growing season, all the fruits are harvested, and the plants are laid in compost.
Do you want to grow a kiwano on a loggia, balcony or indoors? for this, it is best to use a container of 5-25 liters, and also provide for manual pollination of flowers, transferring pollen from male plants to the stigma of female ones with a brush. Female flowers open early in the morning and wither by evening, so pollination is best done from morning to 12 noon, while the pollen is viable. Although the nodule is photophilous, in spring and summer, when the sun is bright on the window, its leaves burn out - on such days they should be shaded with gauze or a mosquito net.
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And now, from personal observations, about edibility: rare nonsense. there is no question of any smell and taste like a banana and other fruits. A useless very beautiful plant (and only the fruits are beautiful) because they look very unusual !! prickly to the point of horror! but there are so many on the liana that the eyes run wide, quite large and speckled like that .. of course I cut it and tried it, just nothing. with a slight sourness. and all. I won’t plant it in the greenhouse anymore (it takes up a lot of space, because it’s a liana)
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