name: Horned Melon
flavor_db_name_variants: horned melon
source: foodb
status: draft
food_db_id: Horned melon
id: 761
name_scientific: Cucumis metuliferus
description: The horned melon, also called African horned cucumber or melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, English tomato, melano, kiwano, or cherie, is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family. It is considered to be the ancestor of the other cultivated melons. Often known by its nickname in the southeastern United States, blowfish fruit, it is grown for its fruit, which looks like an oval melon with horn-like spines. The fruit of this plant is edible, but it is used as often for decoration as for food. When ripe, it has a yellow-orange skin and a lime green jelly-like flesh with a tart taste, and texture similar to a cucumber. The horned melon is native to Africa, and it is now grown in California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand as well. [Wikipedia]
itis_id: 501835
wikipedia_id: Horned_melon
picture_file_name: 786.jpg
picture_content_type: image/jpeg
picture_file_size: 61354
picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:31:21.000Z
legacy_id: null
food_group: Gourds
food_subgroup: Gourds
food_type: Type 2
created_at: 2011-12-16T22:22:18.000Z
updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:05:31.000Z
creator_id: 2
updater_id: 2
export_to_afcdb: false
category: specific
ncbi_taxonomy_id: 61886
export_to_foodb: true
public_id: FOOD00761