Anyone grow mouse melons?

[Jenise]

Actually, not a melon at all but the tiny Lilliputian cucumber also known as Mexican Sour Gherkins. Ever have these? They are a fascinating, delicious little thing that has occasionally shown up in a composed salad or two of late in restaurants, but I've never seen them for sale.

And what this blogger wrote about them (they're NOT susceptible to mildew, which is a big issue for me here) suggests I should try to grow some this summer.

http://groweat.blogspot.com/2010/08/mel%20...%20-mice.html

I just ordered some seeds.

There are several posts on mouse melons there: http://groweat.blogspot.com/search?q=+mouse+melon

I took away a bagful of these last year from a garden swap event. They're called cucamelons here in UK.

The person growing them said they were simplicity itself to grow and very very productive , hence the amount of fruit she was giving away.

The downside is that the family didn't like them; I put a couple in salads and after a few tries they then got left.

The skin is hard, and the fruit is very crunchy and quite tart, not sweet as you might expect from the melon part of the name. Much more cucumber than melon, but without the refreshing juice of a cucumber.

I think its an acquired taste, I didn't dislike them but on the other hand they didn't grab me

So I won't be growing them this year.

I couldn't get Jenise's link to work, but theres an ecstatic article "the cutest food known to man" about them here with pictures of one sliced open and how to grow, serve and pickle them. http://homegrown-revolution.co.uk/savou ... ucamelons/

[Jenise]

The best way to serve these guys isn't whole, although one would understandably be tempted given their bite-size appearance. Rather, they're very nice thinly sliced and distributed that way. The first time I ate them, owing to their tartness, I wasn't actually sure if what I was eating was cucumber or green tomato--it did taste a bit like both.

Thanks for that. I'll try that way next time I have a chance, but I won't be growing them as quantity produced will never get eaten.

[Jenise]

Apparently they do extremely well pickled. Of course, one has to be a pickle eater to be enticed by that (I am, love anything sour).