Kiwano Cucumbers

[Cadalot]

OK I visited Mill Green to divide a full pot in two and checked on mine whilst there and found that my Kiwano Cucumbers that I thought had been a complete failure as I could not see any fruit because of the foliage but as it's now died away I could see it had produced four right at the bottom of trellis. The slugs had enjoyed one of them.

So the questions are:

Should they be that big?

I assume the yellow one is too ripe to eat, but would be ideal for saving seeds from?

What about the others are they too old now or would they still be OK to eat?

[MarkPelican]

I didn't get any fruit set on mine (grown in a greenhouse) but my understanding (reading Wikipedia) is that they aren't ripe UNTIL they are yellow and you eat the seeds, not the skin, they're not like cucumbers, more like passion fruit (I don't think they're related in any way but you can appreciate what I mean).

[sparrow100]

Cad, you can eat them when green or when they are orange and fully ripe. Your yellow one is part-way there. There are pics of ripe ones on my blog if you search kiwano (can't post photo from my phone!). Don't eat the rind. When they are green the taste is limey cucumber and the seeds are soft. When they are orange the taste is something of a cross between passion fruit and banana and the seeds are hard & inedible. At that point the seeds are ripe and you can wash & save them. The green ones will ripen off the plant if you bring them indoors. They vary in size - up to the size of a mango. Let us know what you think.