Pepino

Also Pepino Melon, Melon Pear, Melon Shrub, Mellowfruit

(Given its multitude of conflicting common names, it’s a wonder this poor creature has survived. Is it a pepino, which means cucumber in Spanish? An eggplant, which it slightly resembles and to which it is closely related? A melon or pear? I’m sorry to confuse by responding that it has a bit of the qualities of all, if you ask this taster. It is as refreshing as a fresh summer cucumber. Its sleek skin, which has a golden ground that is dappled or striated with mauve or violet, is as flawless and satiny as that of eggplant; its shape can also resemble an eggplant’s—as can its sometimes bitter aftertaste. The yellow-to-gold pulp compares to the finest-textured and juiciest melon— although it is much less sweet, while its aroma suggests a perfumed Bartlett pear blended with vanilla and honey.