The Wonderful Achocha?

I've done my talk on unusual veg quite few times now ( a few dozen!), it's a really popular one and one I love doing. I just love talking about all these unusual foods that my kids think are normal yet people have never heard of. In fact I love it so much that I've put together a second talk on the subject and garden clubs seem keen to have me back with that one as well! 

One thing I do get a lot from it is often people telling me they've grown something from the list and didn't like. Normally it's Achochas or Cucamelons. 

Each time I have the same answer -

You're eating them wrong!

Normally people say the skins were too tough (in the case of the Cucs) or the seeds got in the way (in the case of achochas). But both of these plants are best picked at their youngest. The cucamelons get to the size of a grape and then just stay there, skins getting harder but not growing; the achochas start to form seeds after about a day and a half with an empty cavity full of Bart Simpson's head shaped seeds! 

The picture above shows a Achocha at the peak for eating off the plant. They're not huge like this, but what the fruit lacks in individual size it makes up for in numbers and vigour - this plant is unstoppable. I put a few in the polytunnel and I'd say I picked these fruit 20ft away from where it's in the ground! It climbs everything and grows at an incredible rate - you can almost watch it growing! 

One thing I haven't done with it much is cook with it, so that is something I must experiment a bit more with. I've gone it off and on for the last 6 years and I think after really getting to grips with the fact it needs to be eaten small if eaten fresh that it is now a regular summer staple here and will be grown yearly. 

Another huge advantage is the fact it's dead easy to save see from and the seeds are pretty much indestructible. 

Who else has these growing in their garden? is it something you grow regularly? What top tips would you give for using them?