A small satin-like fruit streaked with purple stripes and varying in colour from golden-yellow to apricot. The pale yellowish-green flesh has a juicy melon-like texture. It is a delicious subtle flavoured fruit similar to a honeydew or rockmelon.
Closely related to the tomato this shrub grows in a sprawling habit and makes an excellent ground cover plant. It tends to fruit better when grown over a trellis. The foliage is susceptible to damage by light to moderate frosts, however will quickly recover with warmer weather.
Small bush rarely above 1 m tall with yellow fruit stripped purple up to 10cm. Flavour is like a juicy rock melon. Only pick fragrant, slightly soft fruit which are ripe.
| Height | Frost tol. | Pollination req'd | Evergreen/Deciduous | Harvest period |
| 1 | Medium | No | Evergreen | January - May |
We welcome your Tips on Pepino. Share Your Tip.
Well worth growing. Fruit tastes like extra juicy and sweet rock melon. Easy to propagate from cuttings and layering. Watch out for fruit fly and snails. Keep fruit clear of the ground and exposed to light. Water well in hot weather. | David White - Newcastle, NSW 03-Jun-2006
L grow my pepino in stack of car tyers 3 high.the fruit hangs down and the snails miss out on dessert. | Ray Aquilina - Drysdale, VIC 08-Jun-2006
I'm amazed how prolific and large the fruit is on my little 1 year old Pepino Gold! It seems to like Adelaide and limey soil, and can thrive with less than judicious watering. Does anyone have any recipes for the fruit? | Sharon - Adelaide, SA 03-Aug-2006
There are some good pepino recipes here http://www.edible.co.nz/recipes/pepino.htm | Cecilia - Melbourne, VIC 29-Sep-2006
I plant my Pepino in pots (500mm) so I can put them in the sun during summer and under cover to stop frost damage in winter. My first crop was over 50 fruit. A very prolific tasty fruit. | Bruce Roberts - Sale, VIC 02-May-2007
Pepino is wonderful dried: really intense sweet flavour. good to add to home made muesli | Jane Donaldson - Tolga, QLD 19-Jun-2007
Try sprinkling pepinos with a dusting of ground ginger and castor sugar. Let the dish stand for a while and serve with cream or icecream. Or as a savoury, wrap proscuttio around slices of pepino. | Margaret Eldridge - Sandy Bay, TASMA 27-Jun-2007
I will let you know, am getting ready to eat my first one. They are as large as a big Tom tomato.. I have about six on my first plant. | Frank Kemp - Poole, Dorset, U.K. 15-Sep-2007
Did well in the U.K. had seven in total from one plant. taste like a Melon | Frank Kemp - Poole, U.K. 28-Oct-2007
The Pepino recipes link above from Cecilia is now wrong. Try http://www.edible.co.nz/recipies.php?fruitid=43 instead, same site & same recipes. PS they grow well in SE Qld but my dog eats more of them than I do! | Rob Mcmillan - Brisbane, QLD 25-Jun-2008
I have had mine in for 3 months and am trying to work out if the fruit are ready mine is purple too they seem to do ok in palmerston north so i am happy any one with ideas on how to tell if fruit are ready please post a thing so i can read it thanks | Sally Lewis - Palmerston North, NZ 23-Feb-2009
A great plant! I'm in Melbourne and my outdoor pepino plant gets bit down a bit every winter by the cold but comes back quickly in spring. (perhaps would be better under cover for safety tho) easy to grow from cuttings. nice fruit | Lewis - Melbourne, VIC 12-Apr-2009
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pepino.html
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