1. Garden Beets, also called beetroot, are a hardy, cool-season root crop with edible leaves and a fleshy, tap root. The most common beets are deep red throughout but there are varieties that are yellow, white or mixed. The roots are a source of calories and the leaves are a good source of fiber and...
  2. Eggplant is a popular solanaceous garden vegetable grown for its edible fruit. There are many varieties of this strong upright plant. Some produce fruits that are long and thin, some produce round fruits, and others large bell shaped fruit. The varieties range in color from white to purple to...
  3. Capsicum frutescens peppers are much more pungent than the C. annuum species and produce fruits that are erect and usually appear just above the foliage. Peppers include tabasco, bird peppers, and other chili peppers. Varieties of this species have also been selected for their ornamental...
  4. Capsicum chinense or bonnet peppers are typically very hot including the hottest peppers in the world according to the Scoville scale. These include the habanero, ghost peppers, and bonnet peppers. ECHO also has a unique “Sweet” Habanero that produces peppers that are not hot, although...
  5. Capsicum annuum is divided into groups depending on the shape of the fruit; cherry peppers, cone peppers, red cone peppers, sweet bell peppers, and chili and cayenne peppers. These peppers can be pungent (hot) or non-pungent (mild or sweet). Plants are typically grown as an annual in temperate...
  6. Hot peppers in the Capsicum annuum species produce edible fruit with thick walls that can be eaten green and immature or later when the color changes to red, yellow, purple, or brown and the pepper is ripe.
  7. Watermelon is a spreading vine producing large, fleshy fruit. Although all parts of the fruit are edible it is mainly grown for the juicy flesh which is typically red but can be yellow or pink. There are both seeded and seedless varieties.
  8. Egusi melon is a fast-spreading creeping vine. The taxonomy is not clear but the ECHO seed comes from what is probably a variety or sub-species of watermelon. The white, bitter fruits are inedible; instead it is grown for the seeds which contain 50% oil and 30% protein and can be ground into a...
  9. The Cantaloupe is a creeping annual gourd producing round or oval fruits, 10-15cm (4-6”) diameter with a rough, scaly, netted outside skin. Cantaloupe is delicious as a dessert or in a fruit salad.
  10. Snake gourd is a vining, annual vegetable crop that produces a wavy cucumber-like fruit that is harvested when young and green (30-75cm long) and cooked like a squash. This crop is well suited to growth in the humid lowland tropics. The delicate vines need a trellis. The mature fruit turns orange...