Cucamelon Seeds For Planting, Mexican Sour Gherkin (Melothria scobra)

Description

Though most people consider the Mexican Sour Gherkin (Melothria Scobra) to be a part of the cucumber family, it actually belongs to the Melothria family. Though it looks much like a tiny watermelon, and goes by nicknames such as cucamelon, mouse melon, and little watermelon, this cute little Mexican Sour Gherkin was more or less adopted into the honorary title of cucumber.

As the name suggests, the Mexican Sour Gherkin is native to Mexico and Central America, and had been a staple of the Mexican and Central American diets since pre-Columbian times. It was the French botanist, Charles Victor Naudin, who was the first person from the modern world to have described them in 1866.

It has the taste of a cucumber that is citrusy and tangy rather than sweet. This is a slow growing vine plant that can grow up to 10 feet under the right conditions. The fruit can grow to be 1 to 2 inches, but should be cultivated before it reaches 1 inch to prevent the fruit from becoming too seedy if used for cooking. The vine also produces small yellow flowers and does well climbing up trellises, taking about 60 to 70 days.

Compared to cucumbers, the Mexican Sour Gherkin is more resistant to pests and tolerant to drought and mild cold (but not frost). You can treat Cucamelon as a perennial, and though the fruits are not particularly high yielding, they produce their fruits yearly. For those who reside in places that have colder seasons, when autumn arrives and the fruit production has stopped, lift their primary radish-like root and keep it in barely moist compost in a garage or shed until winter passes.