When a Pepino melon sets fruit, it is a special moment. Because it's not always easy for this exotic animal to get the warmth we're hoping for. The growing fruits are observed with curiosity. When can you finally taste them?
When is a Pepino melon ripe?
A Pepino melon is ripe when it smells sweet, has changed color (yellow or light green with purple stripes depending on the variety), is soft and gives easily when pressed. Optimum ripeness is reached when the taste is reminiscent of both pear and melon.
Warm nights bring fruit
A Pepino melon can bloom beautifully in spring. However, the flowers are no guarantee of delicious fruit. This is not due to a lack of fertilization, because the plant can pollinate itself. Wind and insects also play an active role.
Fruit setting only occurs if the melon plant is warm enough at night. It has to be warmer than 18 degrees Celsius, for several nights in a row.
It is also important to give the plant the sunniest part of the garden. If it grows in a pot, it just needs to get a sunny corner of the balcony.
Long ripening period, late harvest
After fertilization, the pear melon, as this plant is also called, has a full 90 days to produce fruits that are about 20 cm long and weigh about 300 grams. Accordingly, the harvest time only falls in late summer.
The harvest can also extend into early autumn. And if the outside temperature is below 10 degrees early in autumn and the plant is already in its winter quarters, the harvest will continue happily there.
Recognizing maturity
If the Pepino melon has been cultivated for several years, recognizing its ripeness is certainly child's play. At the beginning, however, the level of maturity is still a closed book. We reveal the secret:
- the fruit must smell sweet
- the coloring should have changed
- sometimes yellow, sometimes light green with violet vertical stripes, depending on the variety
- the fruit should be soft and give slightly when pressed
Tip
If the fruit enchants you with the aromas of a pear and a melon at the same time, you have precisely selected the optimal level of ripeness.
Let Pepinos ripen again
Pepino melons harvested green didn't grow for nothing. They can mature. Let the fruit sit at room temperature for a few days. If you want it to go even faster, add an apple. It produces the ripening gas ethylene, which also has an effect on Pepino.
