Sharks Finn melon

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snowdrops

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Sharks Finn melon
« on: September 12, 2017, 08:16 »
Ok so I've played I spy under the leaves on the squash bed & ive spyed what looks to be 2 large sharks fin melons, only thing is what do I do with them, I've looked them up on the RHS site & im sure that's what I've got. After all I did plant 1 plant that I'd grown from seed from the veg seed pass the parcel. Will they keep like other squash? Any body any recipes? The RHS don't make it sound great, describing it as gelatinous. Any suggestions gratefully received😊
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sunshineband

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2017, 19:16 »
Snowy I am only replying so you know help is on the horizon. New Shoot has grown these this year and told me about cooking them. She might be around later

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New shoot

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2017, 21:43 »
I have several fruits lurking under the foliage of my plant, but they were mottled dark and light green last time I checked and the pale bits need to go white before they are ripe.

Storage is very good.  I was given one fruit, but have been told a year is perfectly achievable in a shed.  The Chinese simmer them for 2 hours plus to make a fake sharks fin soup - hence the name.  They flesh breaks down into shreds and is very good at absorbing flavours, plus the broth it is cooked in, so I reckon it would be fairly gelatinous given that treatment.

It is grown quite widely in different countries and known by different names, so try searching Malabar Gourd, Fig Leaf Gourd or Chilacayote.  It does make a kind of vegetable noodle in soup, but there are also recipes for cooking it with meat to jam-like preserves.   You can eat the seeds roasted or make a kind of sweet like peanut brittle with them.

It has a slightly sweet mild flavour but as said, it very good at soaking up whatever it is cooked with.  I ate my donated fruit as soup noodles with homemade chicken stock and plot greens wilted into it, which was lovely, but now I have more I will be experimenting  :D

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snowdrops

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2017, 21:47 »
Snowy I am only replying so you know help is on the horizon. New Shoot has grown these this year and told me about cooking them. She might be around later

All is not lost!  :D :D

Thanks Sunny & Tadah here she is 😊

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snowdrops

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #4 on: September 12, 2017, 21:50 »
Thanks NS, I took another look online after I posted & found a bit more this time, very much what you said. I'm a bit intrigued by the jam like preserves( not that I need any more jam or preserves)lol but I'll take another look. I'll get my daughter on it too as she adores noodles maybe she can make me something!

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2017, 11:34 »
In soup it is like you have added those thin rice noodles to it.  It makes super healthy, low carb lunch  :D

The preserve in called Cabbell d'angel which I thinks translates as something like like angel hair  :unsure:  Its more a conserve I think and is used as a filling for pastries and cakes of various sorts.

I hadn't got as far as doing any proper research as they are still growing so I will have to try and re-find some sites.  A quick trawl yesterday didn't throw up the best ones I have seen.  If I find a good one, I'll post a link  ;)

Found 1 I remember  :)

http://www.chickenfish.cc/bio/cabell-dangel-melon-jam/
« Last Edit: September 13, 2017, 11:47 by New shoot »

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sunshineband

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2017, 16:34 »
You have almost convinced me to have a go next year...... :unsure:

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snowdrops

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2017, 17:10 »
Thanks NS, that looks interesting, also good that the melon is better after keeping, so no need to process just yet! I'm about preserved out lol

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2017, 20:49 »
You have almost convinced me to have a go next year...... :unsure:

Now you've gone and done it.  If that isn't volunteering as surplus melon recipient, I don't know what is  :lol: 

It was 1 puny little plant, shoved in after the early potatoes were dug, with a splash of water and a handful of chicken manure pellets and then left to its own devices.  I put a cane and netting fence round it to spare it the attentions of the muntjac deer.  This was extended fairly quickly and the thing is still escaping on all sides.  The deer are leaving it alone - probably scared of being dragged in and swallowed whole Audrey 2 style  :ohmy:

I can see several large fruits lurking and its making more.  For an easy care, productive crop, you really can't fault it, but 1 plant is plenty.  I do want room to get other things in the shed for storage  :lol:


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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2017, 20:56 »
Thanks NS, that looks interesting, also good that the melon is better after keeping, so no need to process just yet! I'm about preserved out lol

Yes the fact you can mature it for a few months is a bonus in my book as well. 

Harvesting is a bit of a mystery.  It seems there are black seeded and white seeded versions and I've seen pictures of dark green and white skin and dark green and light green.  Possibly/probably due to slight crosses with other species along the way, as seeds were passed around.  I'm just going to wait until the plant looks like its giving up and the skins feel hard, like I would with a squash  :)


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sunshineband

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2017, 22:11 »
You have almost convinced me to have a go next year...... :unsure:

Now you've gone and done it.  If that isn't volunteering as surplus melon recipient, I don't know what is  :lol: 

It was 1 puny little plant, shoved in after the early potatoes were dug, with a splash of water and a handful of chicken manure pellets and then left to its own devices.  I put a cane and netting fence round it to spare it the attentions of the muntjac deer.  This was extended fairly quickly and the thing is still escaping on all sides.  The deer are leaving it alone - probably scared of being dragged in and swallowed whole Audrey 2 style  :ohmy:

I can see several large fruits lurking and its making more.  For an easy care, productive crop, you really can't fault it, but 1 plant is plenty.  I do want room to get other things in the shed for storage  :lol:

You see what you make me do? Like making me buy a Madonna Lily bulb yesterday  :lol: :lol: :lol:  Mr S rolled his eyes when I said you'd made me...not sure if it was with disbelief that I could be so misled, or disbelief I was even trying to pass the blame. I wonder if I can plead strong arm tactics over a shark's fin melon? Mayyyyyyybeeeee......

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snowdrops

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #11 on: September 13, 2017, 22:12 »
NS yes I that's what I thought too.

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snowdrops

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #12 on: September 13, 2017, 22:16 »
You have almost convinced me to have a go next year...... :unsure:

Now you've gone and done it.  If that isn't volunteering as surplus melon recipient, I don't know what is  :lol: 

It was 1 puny little plant, shoved in after the early potatoes were dug, with a splash of water and a handful of chicken manure pellets and then left to its own devices.  I put a cane and netting fence round it to spare it the attentions of the muntjac deer.  This was extended fairly quickly and the thing is still escaping on all sides.  The deer are leaving it alone - probably scared of being dragged in and swallowed whole Audrey 2 style  :ohmy:

I can see several large fruits lurking and its making more.  For an easy care, productive crop, you really can't fault it, but 1 plant is plenty.  I do want room to get other things in the shed for storage  :lol:

I spotted another fruit yesterday high up in the Munty frame, well I think it's a sharks Finn, & yes it does seem intent on taking over the whole plot, I think there's just I possibly 2. I must look for the labels, I actually tied them to the top of a 3ft cane so that I could identify all the squash plants, but they disappeared a long time ago under the rampant growth 😱😱😱

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #13 on: September 14, 2017, 09:07 »
I must look for the labels, I actually tied them to the top of a 3ft cane so that I could identify all the squash plants, but they disappeared a long time ago under the rampant growth 😱😱😱

This summer really does have seemed to have suited squashes doesn't it.  I think the rain kicked in just when they wanted it.

Sunny and I were at Wisley on Tuesday, where apparently I made her buy a Madonna Lily bulb - hmmmmmmm I think Mr S saw through that excuse in about a nano-second  :lol:  They have quite a few squash and pumpkin patches and theirs are as bad as ours.  We were looking for labels on quite a few that were long gone, swallowed up by waving leaves and stems.

We saw some people at work in the huge patch out in the fruit fields.  They were valiantly wading in and an array of fruit was mounting up around the edges, despite nothing much being visible at first glance  :lol:

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Re: Sharks Finn melon
« Reply #14 on: September 15, 2017, 20:15 »
And amazingly from having no-one about, an audience gathered too  :lol: :lol:

 

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