WEIRD FOOD FIND: KIWANO - KIWHAT(THE-F)O?

    I live in a very culturally diverse neighborhood in Queens, which means a lot of interesting food finds. While at the World Fruit and Vegetable Market on 63rd Dr., I brought this brilliant orange psychedelic fruit home that Mike compared to a grenade and a puffer fish. The lady at the market made a funny face when I asked about it and said she didn't like it because it tasted sour. For only $1.50 it was worth the adventure. I admired it on my window sill for a few days, and even "Bean" the cat was intrigued. I finally cut it in half and it was as impressive on the inside, with kaleidoscope pockets filled with cucumber like seeds suspended in a lime green jelly. 

    I took a bite and it was sour and gooey, in an interesting and refreshing way. Then I tried it with a little drizzle of honey and the sweet and sour flavors worked really nicely. Then I mildy freaked because certain vegetable are toxic unless cooked, like yuca, so I immediately googled it. From the display I mistakenly thought it was a golden kiwi, but a golden kiwi is just like a regular kiwi. So I searched "weird fruit" and it was one of the first images to pop up. Its called a kiwano or horned melon and according to Wikipedia its native to Africa and is eaten as a fruit snack. Relieved I hadn't poisoned myself, the kiwano didn't really leave me wanting more. It was like I had taken a bite out of a pumpkin. Not something you want to eat raw, but it might be good cooked with other flavors. There aren't many kiwano recipes, but I did find a interesting KIWANO PINEAPPLE SALSA recipe that someone got from an estate sale in Texas, so I will try that tomorrow over tilapia or shrimp. And if I can score more kiwano's it might make a great jelly, too. I will just have to figure out how to make jelly.