The African cucumber is a fruit, horned melon or melano, that can be greatest described as melon with horns. It is originated in the Kalahari Desert and but now it is present in California and New Zealand.
The horned melon also called African horned cucumber or melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, English tomato or kiwano, is an annual creeper in the cucumber and melon family.
Its nickname known by as blowfish fruit in Africa, it is grown for its fruit, which looks like an oval melon with spines like horns. The fruit is too acid to eat raw, but habitually used in place of mango to make chutney.
It is said that the juice can be used for removing stains from linen. The fruit needs the gentle handling because of the thin skin and once picked cannot be kept for more than a few days.
The outside of the horned melon is an oval-shaped, yellow to orange-coloured melon, covered in small spikes.
Inside, the horned melon becomes even more interesting. The flesh of the African cucumber is lime green coloured, and is almost like jelly, though it’s quite similar to a cucumber.
The substance of potassium in cucumber makes it an ideal meal for people suffering from blood pressure.
Not only from this, consumption of cucumber also helps people in relieving who are affected with problems of urinary bladder, kidney and pancreas.
It can also help to reduce eczema, gout, heartburn, ulcers, and even inflammation caused by arthritis. It tastes like a cross between a cucumber and a zucchini, and it is rich in both vitamin C and fiber.
Cucumbers are 95 percent water, keeping the body hydrated while helping the body eliminates toxins. Cucumbers have most of the vitamins the body needs in a single day.
Don’t forget to leave the skin on because the skin contains a good amount of vitamin C, about 10 percent of the daily-recommended allowance.
