Achocha fat baby

[Nicos]

Just need a bit of advice please!
This is the first time I've grown these and I'm wondering when the fruit appears?
The plants are about 6ft high now, but no signs of fruit.
Am I being impatient?

[Scarlet]

Hmmm, with it being that big I would have expected fruit. Have you got any flowers?

[Scarlet]

Just to add...they are small and green, have you put your glasses on?

[Nicos]

Glasses?....that might be a good idea!

When I say 6ft high, I really mean 6ft long as they are trailing along the grass....maybe the fruit is well hidden on the underside. I just couldn't see any fruit or flowers yesterday.

[Baldy]

Some of my fruit is yellowing and now too old - I reckon it could be the glasses Nicos - if you've not really seen the fruit before they could be easy to miss. Fruits on mine are usually about the size of a golf ball though with a more elongated shape - I keep finding extras buried in the foliage.

[Small pumpkin]

I've grown it in the past. As already been said the fruit is very well camouflaged. I regularly missed them till they got to big! I stopped growing them. A little to triffid like, although they produced well. Didn't really like the taste either.

[Nicos]

I do indeed need glasses!
I went and rummaged underneath the foliage and picked no less than 773g of fruit!

Now then....what the heck do I do with them?

The largest are about the size of the circle you make with the tip of your thumb and the tip of your index finger.....
OK.....
Done that?

The rest are down to about half that size.
...and plenty more on the plants!

You can hardly even see the flowers can you!

[Baldy]

Dunno - Ijust pick em and chomp em - so long as the fruit isn't too long in the tooth you can just eat through them. To me they taste somewhat like cucumber crossed with green pepper...

[Nicos]

Just been reading up....it says they start producing 90 days after sowing.
Mine were sown mid May - so it's clearly taken longer than that.

Might try and curry some of the larger ones.
Not eaten one yet but the smaller green ones also seem hollow....with black seeds. Maybe I've not watered them enough?

[Baldy]

Believe that's how they are meant to be - I've had variation on the thickness of the wall of the fruit, but essentially they've all been hollow - so more like a green pepper then Seeds are edible and so are the spikes (as long as the fruit isn't too old)

Be brave, take a smaller one and chomp it...

[Baldy]

^^^ its clearly done me no harm

[Snoop Puss]

I've never grown these. I think Mr Snoop might object to them, simply due to the look of them. However... in the spirit of giving anything a go, do you reckon they might do as cucumber in gazpacho?

[Baldy]

^^^ yes I imagine so. Let us know how it goes down with Mr Snoop.




Disclaimer - I can't cook, do not consider myself to be an expert on the topic of achocha nor on Spanish cold soups.
Nor do I know how tolerant Mr Snoop's palate is nor whether he suffers from IBS

[veggiechicken]

^^^ its clearly done me no harm

No comment

[Scarlet]

^^^^^ just about to say the same!

I fry mine and use in omelettes but I also prefer them raw. Kids always eat them raw too.