If you cross a cucumber and a watermelon, what do you get? Nothing in real life but the small cucurbit Melothria Scabra fruit. This herbaceous climber in the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae) is grown for its tiny edible fruit that looks like a miniature striped watermelon.
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In relation to the title of this blog, the Spanish word sandiita means just that – “little watermelon”, but it goes by many other names in the languages of the indigenous people who've eaten it since pre-Columbian times – including it's other names like "sandia de ratón", or "mouse melon".
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North of the border the plant that grows the fruit has been given different names by seed companies trying to advertise it, including Mexican sour gherkin, Mexican sour cucumber, and cucumelon.
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The fruits are a tasty conversation piece when used whole in salads or other recipes, and its seeds can be purchased online here to grow in your garden.
In the US it is an edible curiosity seen mostly in farmers markets and backyard gardens rather than in mainstream, commercial agriculture.
_Daily Morph
