How to Eat Kiwano Melon (Horned Melon)? Can Pregnant Women Eat It, and Cultivation Techniques Explained

Kiwano melon, also known as African horned cucumber, has fine flesh with many seeds, gelatinous like a cucumber, with a pleasantly sweet taste. Although not very common, it is loved by many people. So how do you eat kiwano melon? Can pregnant women eat it? What are the cultivation techniques?

1. How to eat kiwano melon

Kiwano melon is also known as African horned melon. It has a yellow outer skin covered in spines, with green fruit inside. The taste of kiwano melon is somewhat similar to a mix of cucumber and zucchini, or a blend of banana, cucumber and lemon.

Kiwano melon is not very common here; it originates from the Kalahari Desert in Africa, and is now cultivated in California and New Zealand.

1. When eating kiwano melon, you can cut open the top, insert a straw and drink it directly, or mix in honey for a perfect flavor match - a rare natural beverage.

2. After washing the kiwano melon, peel off the outer skin and cut the horned melon into thin slices or small cubes to eat, or cut it in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.

3. Peel the kiwano melon, put it in a juicer and blend into juice, then add a few drops of lemon juice, lime juice, and a little sugar for a special effect that can relieve dry mouth; it tastes just like orange liqueur.

4. Kiwano melon can also be made into an excellent salad dressing, or used as a substitute for vinegar; the taste is very fresh and delicious.

5. Scoop out the fruit of the kiwano melon and mash it into a puree; it can be added to dressings, soups, salads, sherbet, and yogurt.

2. Can pregnant women eat kiwano melon

1. Expert answer: pregnant women can eat kiwano melon. Eating fruit is good for pregnant women's health, but it should be eaten in moderation. Kiwano melon flesh is sweet in taste, cold and non-toxic in nature; it clears heat and promotes urination, quenches thirst, and can treat summer heat, fever, heatstroke, thirst, difficult urination, and sores of the mouth and nose.

(1) Kiwano melon contains a large amount of carbohydrates and citric acid, etc., and is full of moisture; it can relieve summer heat and clear heat, promote body fluids and quench thirst, and relieve restlessness;

(2) The enzymes in kiwano melon can convert insoluble protein into soluble protein, and can help kidney patients absorb nutrients;

(3) The cucurbitacin B in the kiwano melon stem can protect the liver and reduce chronic liver damage;

(4) Modern research has found that kiwano melon has the effect of expelling and killing roundworms, filarial worms, and others;

(5) Kiwano melon is rich in nutrients and can supplement the energy and nutrients the human body needs

2. Precautions for pregnant women eating kiwano melon

(1) Eat it in moderation; eating too much can easily lead to diabetes. It has a certain effect on the fetus.

(2) Do not eat it cold; pregnant women should not eat fruit that is too cold.

(3) Try to peel it before eating. Normal kiwano melon is not poisonous, but farmers nowadays apply a certain amount of pesticide when growing melons, and if it is not cleaned thoroughly, residual pesticide may remain on it.

(4) It is best not to eat the small seeds inside the kiwano melon; eating too many can sometimes cause diarrhea.

(5) Pregnant women with weak and cold spleen and stomach, or with abdominal bloating, should avoid eating it. Patients with a history of vomiting blood or coughing blood, and those with stomach ulcers or heart disease, should not eat kiwano melon.

3. Kiwano melon cultivation techniques

1. Seed treatment

Before sowing kiwano melon seeds, simple disinfection treatment, low-temperature or alternating-temperature treatment, and soaking seeds in trace elements, etc., are needed. After treatment, place the seeds at 28-30°C to germinate; they sprout in about 24 hours. During this time the seeds should be washed 2-3 times to remove substances that inhibit germination and to promote gas exchange.

2. Seedbed preparation

The seedbed soil formula for kiwano melon is 30% decomposed pig and cattle manure, 20% aged stove ash, 10% decomposed night soil, and 40% peat soil. Another formula is 50% decomposed animal manure, 10% aged stove ash, 20% decomposed night soil, and 20% peat ash. To each square meter of the above mixed nutrient soil, add 4 kg of superphosphate, 1 kg of plant ash, and 1 kg of ammonium nitrate.

3. Seedling stage management

Sow the pre-germinated kiwano melon seeds in a sand box; first water thoroughly, and after sowing cover with 1 cm of sand, cover with agricultural film or woven cloth to keep warm, and keep the temperature inside the sand box at 28-30°C. Seedlings emerge one after another after 24 hours. When 80% of the seeds have emerged, lower the temperature appropriately to prevent leggy growth, to 20-25°C during the day and 16-17°C at night. Another method is to sow the germinated kiwano melon seeds directly into seedbed soil made of peat soil and garden soil inside a warm shed, and transplant directly when the seedlings grow to 10-20 cm, with temperature control the same as the method above.

4. Timely transplanting of seedlings

The best time to transplant kiwano melon seedlings into seedling nutrient pots is when the cotyledons are fully flattened, that is, on the 4th day after the cotyledons open; about the 8th day after sowing is the best time to transplant seedlings. At this time the nutrients stored in the seed have basically been used up, and the plant begins to rely on the root system to absorb nutrients for growth. If transplanted too late, the seedling period is prolonged; after the cotyledons are fully flattened, fertilizer is easily lacking and the seedlings easily age, which is a phenomenon that often occurs in current production. At the same time, the number of transplanting times should not be too many; once is appropriate. The germinated seeds can also be sown directly into seedling pots without transplanting, reducing root damage.

5. Established seedling management

When the first true leaf of the kiwano melon unfolds, it enters the established seedling stage. The soil should maintain a certain humidity and a relatively high low temperature (15-20°C). During the seedling stage, according to nutritional status, 0.2% monopotassium phosphate can be used for foliar topdressing, or carbon dioxide gas topdressing can be carried out. This should be done 1 hour after the sun comes out in the morning, and the temperature should be raised quickly to 28-30°C.

6. Planting management

Kiwano melon is generally planted at 600-700 plants per mu. From sowing to harvest takes about 3.5 to 4 months. For open-field cultivation, the transplanting temperature in spring needs to reach above 15°C; under greenhouse conditions it can be planted in early autumn. When cultivated in polytunnels and greenhouses, a medium is needed for pollination, because kiwano melon is a monoecious plant, but male flowers generally open a few days before female flowers.

7. Field management

Kiwano melon is not cold-tolerant and is suitable for growing in hot, dry climatic conditions. It has strong disease resistance, but is prone to disease in high-humidity, rainy environments. Water twice in the week before the first flowering period, replenishing 40% of the water evaporation; after the first flowering period, replenish 80% of the water evaporation.

8. Post-harvest storage

Kiwano melon is extremely storage-tolerant; in a dry environment at 17-24°C it can stay fresh for as long as 6 months. Its golden-yellow appearance is extremely beautiful; besides being eaten, it can also be used as a display indoors, both elegant and attractive. After picking, coat the fruit surface with wax to prevent the skin from losing water.