I am growing these myself, have pulled off about 12 cucumbers from 3 plants and if you leave them to over ripen you can harvest your own seed to grow next yearwhich is what i did last year. I presently have one the size of a melon and is looking like it is about to burst. The taste is superb just wipe off the thorny coating on the outside and eat like an apple, no after taste or repeating on you like you can get with cucumber's. Ideal with kiddies lunch boxes my kids love them. I certainly prefer to grow these than normal cuc's.