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