(Solanum caripense) Fruit is small, comparable in size to grapes, but shaped and marked similar to Pepino. The delicious little fruit ripens yellow or pale green, with similar longitudinal striping to Pepino, but it's much more juicy. Flavor is similar to Pepino but is often described as tangier and more complex. Tart, with subtle overtones of cucumber, melon and other fruit flavors. This South American native is suited for both greenhouse and garden cultivation in most of the country, and plants may be overwintered indoors in pots. This is a very rare plant that is started indoors like tomatoes and bears a heavy yield from early August until frost in our Missouri gardens. Harvest when fruit starts to soften. Very exciting, fun and SO delicious. Littleton, MA, United States Date: February 13, 2019 3.0 Interesting plant Easy to Grow 4.0 EarlyMaturity 2.0 What are the pros? Very productive; lot of fruit What are the cons? Didn't know what to do with it Review: I planted 6 Tzimbalo's that I started from seed indoors. They got off to a slow start, but that was probably due to the cool Spring weather. Once they took off, I had to reign them in as they began to take over the garden. They had beautiful white flowers and liked all of the rain that we received from Mother Nature. The fruits took forever to ripen, but everything was late this season. When the frost came, I had buckets and buckets of unripe fruit. I picked them all and put them in the basement where they continued to ripen. My biggest issue with the fruits is that I didn't know what to do with them! They have a tough outer skin that prevented me from eating them raw. The insides tasted like a fruity cucumber. I searched all over the internet for some recipes, but found nothing. I finally resorted to pickling them. They held up well in my basement. Some had dehydrated, but after 3 months, there were still a lot of melons that were available for the pickling experiment. Chicago, IL, United States Date: August 2, 2018 4.0 not for zone 5 Easy to Grow 5.0 EarlyMaturity 3.0 What are the pros? pretty plant What are the cons? slow to ripen Review: This is a very robust, attractive, and easy to grow plant. The fruit are extremely plentiful and pretty--looking like little watermelons. I found the flavor of the unripe fruit sort of pleasant--a little bitter, cucumber, with faint tropical undertones. I suspect that I would like the ripe fruit--but never got to taste them. I tried to ripen them inside--but it didn't work--and when the weather cooled beyond what tomatoes would happily tolerate it started to die off without the fruit ripening. Since it was a big plant I took it out to plant fall crops. I think that it would likely prosper in zone 7 or 8. Tucano, Bahia, Brazil Date: January 24, 2018 2.0 Interesting but mediocre Easy to Grow 2.0 EarlyMaturity 1.0 What are the pros? Curiosity for the garden What are the cons? Very slow- fruits mediocre Review: These spent two years in a pot, flowering ( hot dry climate), finally produced three fruits and died. Fruits are mediocre, nothing special. Nice curiosity, but really not worth the trouble for real fruit production... Tena, Ecuador Date: December 19, 2017 3.0 Not for me. Easy to Grow 5.0 EarlyMaturity 3.0 What are the pros? easy and productive What are the cons? flavor with bad aftertaste Review: I grew a couple of these in 2 gallon pots in full sun. They did very well and produced a substantial crop. Fruit did not drop: it was easy to allow the fruit to fully ripen until they were quite sweet. Fruit was also very rot resistant on the vine: I was able to pick firm, unblemished fruit even after the vines had died. My problem was the aftertaste, which was worse than artificial sweeteners. I ate a total of about 4 fruit. Various visitors liked the fruit: maybe most people aren't as picy about sweetener aftertastes as I am. That's the reason I won't grow it again. Pinnacle, NC, United States Date: November 1, 2017 2.0 Melon Pear Easy to Grow 5.0 EarlyMaturity 3.0 What are the pros? pretty plant What are the cons? awful fruit, leggy Review: tried this to add another fruit to our menagerie. this was the worst fruit I have ever eaten. I tried it in all stages and thought it was awful. The plant gets quite large, easy to germinate and grow in zone 7. rareseeds