Yes, you are right. This vegetable is new to US and Canada gardeners. I came across this vegetable while surfing on ebay.com and as a curious gardener decided to grow it.Vine is growing well, Will post more pics. as when available.

Thanks for your comment.

As farmerdill mentioned, it is not exactly a new vegetable, it has just gained in notoriety the last couple years. I first grew it close to 10 years ago. It's a novelty and it gets people talking.

Rodney

O.K. take it as "a novelty" instead of "new".

Is it worth eating? What does it taste like?

Like a sour cucumber, a love it or hate it sensation.

I decided to plant a few of these this year also haha I’m looking forward to seeing what they taste like. I’m out of town at the moment, but this past weekend, the cucamelons were about the size of a piece of orzo pasta. I’m hoping some of them will be ready to pick in another week or two.

The vines really to take over, however. If I grow them again, I will put them in a container all to themselves.

I intend to use it as salad ingredient,pickling and as sauteed vegetable.

Mine were awful. Extremely bitter and nasty tasting. I'm wondering if it's because the seeds came from China.

This is the second year I've tried it. Still don't know what it tastes like as the vines never got beyond two feet high and all fruit aborted last year. Still awaiting flowers this year but again the vines just don't want to grow. My seed came from a reputable brand which I always buy.

May be too cold in the UK. They grow wild in the deep southern USA and Mexico. It is a heat loving plant.

Not bad added to salads, which is how I used them. Pick them small for best flavor, I recommend just over pencil width. My effort to pickle them failed dismally.

Well we've had high temps this summer and it's still rubbish. Last year they did flower but there were no fruit. Probably best grown in a greenhouse here.

Growing in greenhouse is a good idea.

"Growing in greenhouse is a good idea."

Provided, of course, that pollinators are brought in. Melothria scabra is not parthenocarpic, so like most cucurbits, it would require pollination to set fruit... and the flowers are so tiny that hand-pollination is impractical. Personally, I would not consider this vegetable to be worth that much effort.

My 2 c's... as a long-time gardener, one of the things that really annoys me is when a vendor renames something, to give the appearance of introducing something "new". This practice has, unfortunately, been around as long as there have been seed companies. "Mexican Sour Gherkin" itself was a name created for marketing purposes; "Mouse Melon" is yet another synonym. This marketing ploy not only confuses gardeners, it produces a clutter of names for the same cultivar.

Gardeners are smart enough to figure out such variations. There are very small insects as pollinators almost every where including greenhouses.

Of course "Growing in greenhouse is a good idea" when climatic conditions are not proper enough in the back yard gardens.

How small are the flowers? Not hard to pollinate small flowers. The pictures I see make them look pretty macroscopic.

Re marketing names, what do you like? Mouse melon, Mexican sour gherkin, cucamelon, Mexican miniature watermelon, Mexican sour cucumber, pepquinos or sandiita? Or maybe just melothria scabra.

The flowers are pretty small. The earliest fruits are starting to get larger. As the vine keeps on growing, we're getting a fruit with every node by the leaves.

Here’s a photo of a flower

I can hand pollinate that. Just squish a male flower into a female flower. Now, identifying a female flower might require some squinting. Squinting and squishing. I'm good for it.

Vines are growing well. There are plenty of fruits ready to be harvested. Here are a few pics:

I've just been to look at mine. They are about a foot tall, failing miserably to climb their twiggy supports, preferring to scramble on the ground. There are a couple of flowers and a solitary embryonic fruit smaller than my little finger nail. I had hoped that after a long period of very hot (for us) weather they'd perhaps do a bit better this year.

Mine are 2' long vines. I used netting for support. The fruits are tiny but tasty. This is my first year experimenting this.

Would These Grow in a Pot on a Windowsill?
Can Play Bee If Needed.....
Thanks

Ninecrow- the vines can get quite large so you would need a lot of space and a trellis in order to keep one in a pot.

We had our first harvest of Cucamelons today. We ended up with around two and a half pounds of fruits.

Pachhu: Cucamelon is a root vegetable.It grows well on a small hill and prefers a clean area surrounding it's stem.

Thanks namahc for the advice.

Is it a perennial or annual?. Do you eat it raw? What do you do with it?

It has sour and tangy taste. It is perennial in tropical countries.In cold countries it will get destroyed in winter cold. I am in Maryland which has a freezing cold Winter, I will dig out the roots before first warning of frost and take the roots indoor.

We slice the fruits and saute in Olive oil, add some spices and cook them before we consume.Next we intend to pickle the slices.

Supposedly they taste like pickles if you let them ripen to what would be considered overripe for regular cucumbers.

I will try making a spicy curry. Hope I will be able to grow so many! Will post photos

Thanks Jamie, It Was Just a Thought.....

ninecrow (England);

I am posting a pic, just to give an idea about the growth of Cucamelon vines.

OK Thank You Namahc
IF I tried I think I'd Disappear under the Vines....
So Maybe Not....
LOL