Columbian Pepino Melon (Single)

• Please note that Fruits will come in a variation of sizes, weights and colours.
• You'll receive 1 per order of this item
  
• What is picked and packed is purely based on availability at that time
• We aim to send these fruits on the unripe side so they have more time to ripen. If unripe fruits are not available, it is likely riper fruits with enough time to travel and consume will arrive (ready or close to ready to eat).

Imported from Columbia

Pepino melons are ready to eat when they turn creamy-yellow with purple stripes and are slightly soft to the touch, indicating they are ripe and sweet. A ripe pepino should be slightly soft to the touch and have a fruity aroma. We love slicing them up and devouring (the skin can be a little chewy so you might like to remove it), or using as a refreshing addition to fruit salads or smoothies. They are also great for dehydrating and adding to cereals.

Description & Taste

The fruit's skin ripens from green to pale yellow, golden yellow, yellow-orange, to solid purple, depending on the variety, and the skin sometimes exhibits purple striping. The skin is also smooth, taut, glossy, and firm, hardening into a tough, often unpalatable texture when mature. Despite this tough exterior, the surface is still easily bruised and damaged with handled roughly. Underneath the skin, the pale to golden yellow flesh is soft, tender, aqueous, succulent, and textured, similar to a pear. The flesh also encases a small central cavity filled with a few to many edible seeds. Pepinos are entirely edible and release a sweet, green scent reminiscent of honeydew, cucumber, vanilla, and honey when ripe. Select Pepinos that feel heavy for their size, have a noticeable fragrance, are yellow and not green, and give slightly to pressure around the stem end. Unripe Pepinos will have a vegetal, grassy taste, while ripe Pepinos contain a refreshing, mild, and light cantaloupe, pear, and cucumber flavour.

Applications

Pepinos have a mild, subtly sweet, and slightly vegetal taste suited for fresh or cooked preparations. The entire fruit is edible, including the skin, flesh, and soft seeds, but some consumers may choose to discard the seeds and skin, depending on preferences.

Even though pepino melon skin is edible, it starts to develop a thicker, woody texture and an unappetizing flavour. Once you’ve cut the melon, just grab the edge of the skin to tear it off of the fruit easily. If the skin doesn’t easily peel off, scoop the fruit out with a spoon or use a knife to cut the skin off.

Pepino melon seeds are edible and there are only a few in the centre of the fruit, but they may have an unpleasant texture. Use a spoon or knife to remove the seeds and throw them away if you don’t want to eat them.

Pepinos are popularly sliced into small pieces and eaten as a snack, and the flesh can be sprinkled with chili powder, lime juice, lemon juice, salt, or sugar for enhanced flavouring. The flesh can also be tossed into salads, chopped into melon ceviche, halved and filled with cottage cheese and nuts, or sliced and served over various breakfast dishes. Try blending Pepinos into smoothies and fresh juices, pureeing into gazpacho, sauces, and marinades, or freezing into sorbet and granita.

Pepinos can also be wrapped in ham as a simple appetizer, served on charcuterie boards, added to salsas, or chopped and topped over goat cheese on bite-sized crostini. In addition to fresh preparations, Pepinos can be simmered into jellies, jams, and compotes, cooked into syrup, and used as a filling for pastries, or poached and poured over ice cream. The fruits can also be cooked into sauces and curries or grilled and drizzled with honey.

Beyond utilising ripe Pepinos, unripe green fruits are treated similarly to summer squash or cucumbers and are added to salads or thinly sliced and layered into wraps. Pepinos pair well with nuts such as macadamia, cashews, and pine, sesame seeds, fruits including blueberries, coconut, watermelon, oranges, lemons, limes, and avocados, herbs such as mint, basil, and tarragon, chile peppers, chayote, honey, and agave. Whole unwashed Pepinos can be kept on the counter at room temperature to mature. Once ripe, the fruits should be consumed immediately for the best quality and flavour or stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 days. Sliced portions of the fruit should be covered in plastic wrap and placed in the fridge.

Current Facts

In South America, Pepinos are known as Pepino Dulce as the word "pepino" translates to mean "cucumber," while "dulce" means "sweet." Pepino Dulce was given to the fruits to describe their subtly sweet, cucumber-melon-like flavor and distinguish them from true cucumber varieties sold in fresh markets. It is important to note that Pepinos are not melons or cucumbers and are a berry more closely related to a tomato or eggplant. The species has earned various monikers worldwide, such as Tree melon, Mellow fruit, Sweet cucumber, Pepino melon, Melon pear, and Melon shrub for its taste and aroma.

Nutritional Value

Pepinos are a source of copper, potassium and vitamin A. The fruits also provide vitamin C, calcium, manganese, and other nutrients, including vitamin K, iron, B vitamins, riboflavin, folate, niacin, and antioxidants.