This is a creeping cucumber that is getting close to full size. Currently it’s the size of a large lima bean.
They do seem to be perennial in my sister’s yard. They’re so small that I can’t see that they have too much use as vegetable. I’m trying to get them established at my place in order for them to serve as ground cover and snacks while gardening. A similar snack niche to ground cherries, without the sweetness of physalis.
Anyone else growing creeping cucumber?
Interesting! I’d never even heard of it before. Looks like it’s Melothria pendula, which implies it’s a close relative of cucamelon (Melothria scabra).
How does creeping cucumber taste? How does it compare to Cucumis savitus (regular cucumbers)?
To me it tastes pretty much like a bite-sized version of the slicing cucumbers sold in the supermarket here. The skin is a little bit bitter, but nothing outside the range I think is found in other cucumbers.
Sometime I would like to try growing cucamelon. I ate a few several years ago – I also recall them as being more or less like a slicing cucumber in taste. My palate may not be very sophisticated for these fruits.
Ha ha ha, that’s okay. Who needs a sophisticated palate? If they taste interchangeable to you, that just means you can favor whichever species grows better for you. 
How big are they? Are they about the same size as a cucamelon? Because it seems to me that may be a nice size to pop into a salad without slicing, just like cherry tomatoes.
The creeping cucumbers are a little smaller than cucumelon, but I do think they would go well into a salad. I would compare them to a large olive.
Cool. Yeah, they’d work great for that purpose, then!
The creeping cucumbers coming off the vine now are a little smaller than I said. Although they are pretty dry, I’m not sure even if they had more irrigation they would not be the size of large olives.
The lighter color fruit is at a good eating stage. There is a little bit of a sweet citrus note with the typical cucumber flavor.
The darker fruit is past eating but too soon for seed collection. It’s starting to turn a little bitter (helpful for me as I’m trying to learn that flavor), the skin is a bit tough, flesh too soft, seeds too firm.
