Solanum Muricatum

[DebTheFarmer]

Also known as Pepino Dulce, Sweet Pepino.

Anyone have any experience growing/eating these?

I bought seed on a whim (I'm sometimes crazy like that)… it takes 4 to 6 months to produce fruit so I'll have to plant them in a couple weeks to get anything from them.

[richardw]

Yes,i grew them a few years ago and for some unknown reason i haven't carried on with them.

They are very nice eating ,bit like a rockmelon, but i remember that the taste can very between fruit even off the same plant,they are frost tender but that wouldn't worry you Deb,also easy to grow from cuttings.

Thanks for reminding me of them,i'm guna get some seed and start growing them again.

There's three varieties in NZ - www.edible.co.nz/varieties.php?fruitid=43#El%20Camino

[rowan]

I grow them every year, this year I grew some in my poly tunnel and they have produced the best and biggest fruit I have ever had. The ones grown outside are usually so slow that it is a race to get them ripe before frost.



Richard is right when he mentions that they vary a lot in taste, bad ones are very bad but good ones are delicious. The trick is to pick them before they are fully ripe, when the stripes are purple but they are only just turning lemon yellow. When they are ripe on the bush they can taste awful.
If you let them ripen in the kitchen they are great and they don't lose any quality or taste when picked early and ripened indoors.

I love them freshly stewed with ice-cream as well as fresh in fruit salads. They taste just like juicy rockmelon.

I am going to try them from seed next spring but I usually overwinter cuttings in my poly tunnel.

[raymondo]

I bet the dreaded fruit fly would make mince meat out of them but I'll try some under cover when I move north.

[DebTheFarmer]

I'm starting them from seed (in a week or so) and they'll spend the summer in a tunnel.

Thanks for the harvesting tip! I can't wait to try it

If all goes well maybe I'll be able to save cuttings in our greenhouse.

[richardw]

Feb 26, 2014 11:06:29 GMT -5 DebTheFarmer said:

If all goes well maybe I'll be able to save cuttings in our greenhouse.

Just let them touch the ground and they send down roots,then just cut it off,simple.

[richardw]

Feb 26, 2014 3:41:11 GMT -5 rowan said:

I grow them every year, this year I grew some in my poly tunnel and they have produced the best and biggest fruit I have ever had. The ones grown outside are usually so slow that it is a race to get them ripe before frost.



Richard is right when he mentions that they vary a lot in taste, bad ones are very bad but good ones are delicious. The trick is to pick them before they are fully ripe, when the stripes are purple but they are only just turning lemon yellow. When they are ripe on the bush they can taste awful.
If you let them ripen in the kitchen they are great and they don't lose any quality or taste when picked early and ripened indoors.

I love them freshly stewed with ice-cream as well as fresh in fruit salads. They taste just like juicy rockmelon.

I am going to try them from seed next spring but I usually overwinter cuttings in my poly tunnel.

Thats a beauty sized fruity Rowan,last time i grew them was it was elongated fruit type and it was grown outside, but now i have a tunnlhouse i can winter over a plant or two then i'm able to plant out a much larger bush.

[DebTheFarmer]

The seeds went into their temporary pots today

We're finally getting seasonal/above seasonal temps after a bitterly cold February. Perhaps the weather gods are being kind to us after a long winter…. *fingers crossed*

[luisport]

I love them! They are delicious and very nutritious!

[mountaindweller]

It is a perennial plant usually. I had them in Brisbane, it was a bit weedy and tasted terrible.
backyardnursery.freeforums.net/

[rowan]

Mountaindweller, the trick is when you harvest them. If you leave them to fully ripen on the plant the taste of each individual fruit can be all over the place, and often awful. They are one of the few fruits that should be picked before being fully ripe and ripened indoors, then they are delicious.

*  Oops, I should have reread the thread, I just repeated myself

[Marches]

Feb 14, 2015 2:12:55 GMT -5 rowan said:

Mountaindweller, the trick is when you harvest them. If you leave them to fully ripen on the plant the taste of each individual fruit can be all over the place, and often awful. They are one of the few fruits that should be picked before being fully ripe and ripened indoors, then they are delicious.

*  Oops, I should have reread the thread, I just repeated myself

Do you think this could be addressed with selection efforts?
This next year I'm going to push to grow more tomatoes and chillis and make efforts to store and preserve them as I'm using a lot.

I've been interested in Pepinos for a while but haven't grown any yet but may give it a shot. From what I read, one of the main things holding them back is how variable the flavour is as well as how long they take.
I think if the flavour can be made to be more "stable" then they'd perhaps make a good greenhouse or window crop for home growers.
What you're saying about the flavour sounds a lot like American hybrid grape varieties containing the species Vitis labrusca. Often such varieties start off tasting nice but if left for too long on the vine some bad flavours from that species come through. This has been eliminated in some varieties largely through hybridisation, although it's one of the harder things to breed out.
Pepinos don't really have any close relatives to hybridise with so it'd purely be about selecting strains.