Learnt from the signage that it's not some alien egg waiting to hatch some monstrosity that would take over our country Starship Troopers style, but a MELON KIWANO from New Zealand. And that it was previously a whopping $9.90, reduced to $6.99 (still very expensive). Yes, a mere fruit supposedly worth 10 bucks and it's not even Japanese. I'm not some White people/White country hater, okay, I think fruits from New Zealand are great too! But c'mon Japanese fruits are of a whole different class and when you put them on your tongue you're basically tasting heaven.
I just don't eat fruits from China because you don't know whether the fruits you're eating are actually fruits or just solid products of chemical mixtures masquerading as fruits. Ever heard of fake China eggs? Search up the vids on YouTube, it's frightening. Also, my dad's friend says that every time he eats Fuji apples from China he gets a tummy ache. I'm not surprised.
Hahaha look at these curious things unceremoniously chucked next to the peasant apples like they're no big deal. Okay to be fair, these melon kiwano were laid out in pretty baskets. The apples only got cardboard cartons.
Imagine if you had that many nipples!!! Actually upon closer inspection they look like pimples ready to explode with pus. Nipples pimples nipples pimples nipples pimples. Say that really fast 5x.
Stood there for about 10 minutes marvelling over the strange fruit and playing with them while deciding whether or not to buy them. In the end we decided to just splash the $$$ because how often do you even come across such a specimen?? Plus it was on offer anyway.
According to the mighty Internet you're supposed to cut a melon kiwano lengthwise and scoop the flesh out to eat it, much like how you'd eat a passionfruit. And so we got to work. The scraping was rather tedious and the end result didn't look too appetising. Squelch. Squelch. Squelch. By the time we got to the second half of the fruit we were already quite tired.
Now, also according to the might Internet, the melon kiwano tastes like a cross between a cucumber and kiwi, though apparently it starts tasting more like a banana as it ripens. I know it's difficult to imagine such a taste because the combination sounds impossible, but whoever came up with that description was pretty spot on! On first impression it did have a cucumbery taste, and not just because of the cucumber seed-like texture of the flesh. But soon after that I got a slight banana taste. As strange as this sounds - imagine eating a banana with the texture of cucumber seeds. The aftertaste was a little sharper and sourish so I'm guessing that was the kiwi bit, although it also kind of tasted like pineapple (?) to me?
Verdict: The experience was definitely interesting, but I'm not going to actively seek out this fruit because it's not something I'd ever find myself craving (unlike other fruits like watermelon or strawberry). Don't regret trying it though! Maybe we'll buy it again 10 years later just to relive the experience for fun, but other than that I don't see myself eating it again anytime soon.
When I first started writing this post a couple of months ago this fruit started appearing EVERYWHERE but I haven't really seen it around lately, not sure if it's because it's out of season or if there's just no demand. It IS pretty pricey as well, even at neighbourhood fruit stalls, so that's probably a turnoff to most people too.
