horse carts in beijing and a new fruit called xiao feng, 特小凤西瓜

Well, it's not a new fruit, just a fruit new to me. Nate and I took the subway two short stops from the Beijing city center and wandered around the streets aimlessly looking for a place for me to buy new glasses. Turns out we were in an area of the city where a lot of Uighur minority people live-- the Muslim minority group from Xinjiang, the Northwest part of China. You may have heard about Xinjiang recently in the news. We saw quite a few horse drawn carts in this area and this one was selling a fruit called te xiao feng xi gua (特小凤西瓜).

We bought one for 10 RMB (about $1.50) and ate the whole thing. I've never seen it sold anywhere else but maybe I haven't looked hard enough. It tastes like a cross between a watermelon and a honeydew melon. Has anyone seen this for sale in the States?

-mk

Comments

[Mary Jo Curtis]

Hope,AR grew the largest watermelon in the world and they also grow what they call a yellow meat watermelon and this looks like it only smaller. The photo was so good you almost could taste the melon. Of course I love melons. My grandmother use to make watermelon rind preserves and taste kind of like a mamalade. Rocky Mound MJ

[Cocina Cook]

It looks delicious! Try it with salt on it and see if it tastes good.

[SG in OHIO (dps)]

Question???? Have you found the indoor mall eateries as featured on the Travel channel? They are supposed to have the best food in town. They are like the Philly Market.

[A. Lau]

Those are watermelons. Xi Gua is watermelon in Chinese.