Jelly melon "Kiwano" (African cucumber)

African cucumber Kiwano (Jelly melon) - Cucumis metuliferus.
Crop requiring warm humous soils rich in nutrients. Trim the vine shoots to the length of 1,5 m.
Gather fruit when it turns light orange. The jelly-like pulp is edible raw.
1 g = 45-60 seeds.

A powerful herbaceous vine with many lateral shoots (it can grow in width and height up to 5-6 m) and dark green fruits resembling hedgehogs with large fleshy spines.
The average fruit weight is 300 g, the average length is 12 cm. The fruits are extremely decorative and can be used to create original compositions and even as Christmas tree decorations.
Anguria in your apartment can become an interesting part of the interior and serve as a beautiful still life.
The skin of the Antillean cucumber becomes dense over time, so it can be stored for a long time at room temperature (at least until the New Year).
During storage, the fruits acquire a bright yellow-orange color. At a young age, the fruits of anguria taste like cucumber, they are used in salads, in pickles, etc.
The plant is dioecious, has distinct male and female flowers, and needs to be pollinated by insects or by hand. Seeds are rounded.
The plant is quite thermophilic, does not tolerate frost and prolonged cooling at a young age, in adulthood it becomes more cold-resistant. Grown through seedlings.
To accelerate fruiting, the method of chasing lateral shoots on the ovary can be applied.

African horned cucumber, Jelly melon, Hedged gourd. Bot.syn.: Cucumis tinneanus Kotshy et Peyritsch.