Garden Organic (HDRA) members experiments...Shark Fin Melon

[kippers garden]

Back in May I posted on here about the free seeds that garden organic gave me when they visited Eco House in Leicester. 

I popped a Shark Fin Melon seed in the ground at the end of May and it has grown into a monster!  I knew it was supposed to be big, but it really is a monster!  I grew it over an arch I had, but it grew everywhere else too.  Yesterday it toppled my arch, so I had to do a quick repair job on it.

It only has two fruits on it, which have grown quickly over the last month only.  One hangs down from the arch and the other managed to grow over my spring broccolli cage and managed to break the cane that held the netting up, so I had to move it before it did anymore damage!

You can see it here: http://notjustgreenfingers.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/shark-fin-melon-and-toad-in-the-hole/

and  here: http://notjustgreenfingers.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/parsley-sauce-and-taming-a-monster/


The photo's don't quite show how big it really is.  I'm just thankful it was a bad growing year or it may have grown even bigger! lol

I've just got to figure out how to cook it now...so if anyone has used it pls let me know what you did with it and did it taste nice?

Thanks

[kippers garden]

[irridium]

i grew this to make this trad. chinese soup that i used to have -

[url]http://homediningfoodblog.com/shark-fin-melon-soup-recipe//url] - i didn't get all the dried ingredients and found the whole thing v. bland. i asked my dad about what to make with it instead and he said to treat it like you would with a courgettes. it takes on lots of flavour if you add lots of ingredients, so maybe a stir-fry with garlic and ginger paste etc., it's quite watery too, so beware of that, and if you wait for the melon to get bigger, the skin will be too hard to eat so you'll have to peel it. i'm afraid it's v. seedy inside, so you'll end up with lots of seeds in a dish whatever you make..

i grew 2 plants last year and they were deliberately trailed along the hedge and half of the 15 fruits (were monsters - 3kg even!) were growing over my lotti neighbours side of his hedge and his shed roof! - perhaps about 10+ metres it went to..

i made the decision to not grow them just because they were a bit bland really.

[kippers garden]

Thanks for that.  If I don't like the taste I won't bother growing it again either lol

[martinburo]

I agree that it doesn't have more taste than a courgette and makes a really big plant, but if you harvest it just as the skin starts to darken or before then the skin and the seeds are still edible.

[pumkinlover]

I made lovely soup with a smallish fruit, a handfull of carrots and some Buillion and chilli

[Bing]

I planted one among other squash, courggetes..it has produced 14 melons and I had to cut off lots of new grows and some of it apple sized fruits...or it will be toooo much for me.

I stir fried the two apple sized shark fin melon, they were very tender , fresh and tasty.

the mature melons are normally used to boil soup with meat/stir fry. the skin has to be peeled as it is very hard....but it can be kept 6 to 12 month because of its skin.

[kippers garden]

I planted one among other squash, courggetes..it has produced 14 melons and I had to cut off lots of new grows and some of it apple sized fruits...or it will be toooo much for me.

I stir fried the two apple sized shark fin melon, they were very tender , fresh and tasty.

the mature melons are normally used to boil soup with meat/stir fry. the skin has to be peeled as it is very hard....but it can be kept 6 to 12 month because of its skin.

Thanks I didn't realise it keeps that long