Exotic and Rare Tropical Fruits of the Amazon: Girón, musk cucumber, or cassabanana

Musk Cucumber, or in Ecuador known as girón, is a squash fruit with a sweet flavor of winter squash and cantaloupe. It grows as a fat cucumber, 12” – 15” long, about 4” in diameter with a dark golden amber color, sometimes turning a bit purple when ripe. It is a fascinating squash, grows easily and is versatile to use in the kitchen! 

William remembers as a kid growing up in the Amazon jungle having a girón plant. The vine would make itself up a tree and drape over it’s branches. As the girón fruit would grow and mature, it would look like fat sausages hanging from the tree. William teases his kids that he grew up with a sausage tree. Until recently, we couldn’t quite understand what it was he was talking about. 

But since we’ve moved to Ecuador’s Amazon jungle ourselves, we are always finding new foods, especially fruits, that I’ve never heard of and certainly don’t know how to use! A friend knows William is collecting seeds and planting a food forest. The goal is to gather as many seeds of different kinds that will grow well, compliment each other and grow in harmony together. That friend brought us a few girón and William was back to the kitchen he grew up in, imagining that sausage tree.

What is Girón? What is a Musk Cucumber?

Girón is part of the squash and cucumber or “cucurbit” family. It grows in an oblong shape with seedy pulp down the center. It is grown in humid tropic environments. The immature fruit might be added to soups or stews. As it is allowed to ripen on the vine, it gets sweeter and darker in color. It tastes like a sweet melon-y winter squash, a mild stringless pumpkin with a cantaloupe scent. 

How do you eat or prepare girón?

The outer shell of a girón is VERY hard. Like, chop-at-it-with-your-machete, hard. Once cut into half or thirds, the sweet scent will reach your senses. Scoop out the seeds and pulp with a metal spoon. This can be used to make a yummy juice! The flesh of the girón can add more bulk and flavor to your juice or be used separately. 

Now this is where I went all “gringo” on that girón. I had no idea how to use it or what it was good for, so I treated it like a winter squash. Without exact plans, I jumped in. I cut each slice (no seeds left now) in half, added it to a pot with some water and simmered it until soft. I first tried to add butter and salt to the finished pulp but found that that wasn’t a great fit. 

So in another attempt to use this squash meat, I pulled out a tried and true pumpkin bread recipe from Farmhouse On Boone. As I mashed the couple of cups worth of cooked giron, I found the meat to not be stringy or strong flavored. It was moist but not dripping- it would be perfect for this recipe. 

And it was!  Check out this recipe from Farmhouse On Boone for Sourdough Pumpkin Bread. We may have made it three times in the past week. Why wait for fall for the soups, the cinnamon and pumpkin treats and all that cinnamon pumpkin pie spice? Especially if you live on the equator with no sense of time or season! Now was as good as ever to experiment with girón and we’ve loved finding a fun new fruit to experiment with. And of course, we’re saving seeds to plant our own!

Sourdough Pumpkin Bread (made with the cooked and mashed flesh of girón instead of pumpkin)

Girón Pulp Juice

• 3 cups raw pulp from the center of the girón. You will strain out seeds in a moment
• 2-3 cups cold water
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup sugar
• optional sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg

Place pulp and water in blender and pulse quickly for about 5 pulses. Strain from blender into a pitcher, pressing with a spoon to remove as much juice as possible. You could also use a cheesecloth here and squeeze out the liquid. Stir sugar and optional cinnamon or nutmeg into juice and adjust to taste. Serve over ice!

Continue to explore other Exotic and Rare Tropical Fruits we’ve found!