Eggplant and Pepino

At the local market today I discovered a pepino plant. I'd never heard of one before. It had three yellow balls of fruit (a little bigger than a golf ball) with purple stripes running down them. It was $3.50 and the guy said they taste like a rockmelon (I don't like rockmelon) and were ripe and ready to be eaten. So I bought it.

I also bought an eggplant with a fruit already on it.




When I got home I pulled the ripest, largest pepino off the plant, cut it, peeled it and ate it. It was sweeter than a rockmelon and, I thought, nicer. It had the texture and colour of mango flesh. I looked it up in a few books I have and discovered that if I could manage to produce a large crop I could make pepino and strawberry jam, or that I could serve it fresh in a fruit salad or with cheese. Yum.

The eggplant is exciting too - I'm not sure my eggplant seeds are going to grow and anyway it will be at least a year before they yield anything, so a small plant with a small fruit on it and others on the way is a good idea. Can't wait to eat that too.