Convenience fruit: the shape of things to come

THEY’RE the ultimate in fruit for the convenience generation — cube-shaped melons.

Supermarket giant Tesco is soon to start selling the melons, which will sit easily in the fridge instead of rolling around.

Farmers in Brazil grow the traditionally round fruit in transparent square boxes for 60 days so the melons end up cube-shape.

Tesco fruit buyer Damien Sutherland said: “Normal melons are delicious and refreshing yet some people find them a problem because their large size and shape makes them harder to cut or store in a fridge.

“These square melons are easier to handle and store — and they can be served in long strips rather than in the crescent-shape for easy eating.”

The novelty fruit are already on sale in Japan and Tesco is to start selling the fruit at its British stores in October for about €7.50.

Irish shoppers, meanwhile, can expect to get their hands on the curiosities from spring.

Mr Sutherland said: “We’ve seen samples of these watermelons and they stop you in their tracks because they are eye-catching.

“We believe that demand will grow even more once people see these melons. The square melon could become even more popular than the round ones”, he added.

The green and yellow melons are not perfect cubes but are grown to a shape called a quadric ellipsoid — similar to dice.