How to Cut a Kiwano Horned Melon

When I first read about Kiwano horned melons in the Melissa’s Great Book of Produce, I was a little bit confused on how to open and eat them. I eventually figured it out and I am here to now share that knowledge with you. If you do not know what a kiwano horned melon is, it is a orange melon (about the size of a mango) and it has little spiked on it.

The fruit is a little intimidating, but cutting it open is really no that hard. All you need to do to begin is wash the fruit and cut it right down the middle. Make sure it is longways (like a hot dog) and straight down the middle. Once the melon is cut you might be a little confused about what is on the inside.

Inside the Kiwano Horned Melon

The inside of the Kiwano melon is green with white/yellow seeds. It is a green gooey looking liquid. How to get it out of the fruit is to get a bowl, hold half of the melon over the bowl, and squeeze. When you squeeze the fruit all of the seeds and green goo will come out.

If you can’t squeeze all of it out then take a spoon and scoop the rest out. Once you do that you can take all the seeds out or leave them in because they are edible. For our salsa recipe that we made, we decided to leave them in.

The kiwano tastes kind of bitter sweet. It is the perfect balance of sweetness and savory.

Since the kiwano melon is an interesting fruit you can choose to wash out the skin and keep it. We kept it and turned it into mini bowls for future dishes.

The Kiwano horned melon is a fun fruit that you can make some interesting recipes with. You can buy your kiwano fruit today at Melissa’s Produce online.

Ella is the OC Mom Blog teen blogger. She is an integrated arts student at the Orange County School of the Arts by day, and a fashionista by night. She loves baking, teddy bears and nice people. Read her column here