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| Winter melon | ||||||||||||||
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 Nearly mature winter melon
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| Benincasa hispida Thunb. |
The winter melon also called white gourd or ash gourd, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable. The fruit is fuzzy when young. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a long shelf life. The melon may grow as large as 1-2 metres in length. The word "melon" in the name is somewhat misleading, as the fruit is not sweet.Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well.
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Petha
In North India it is cut into rectangular pieces and boiled in a sugar syrup to create a translucent, almost clear candy or sweet, and is often flavored with rose water. In this form it keeps and cans well allowing it to be sold in canned form around the world. Winter Melon is also used to make a sweet Petha. Petha from Agra, India is famous the world over. The interesting thing about it is that Winter Melon (Petha) required for this is cultivated only in SouthIndia. Petha is one of the few Indian sweet which last for a relatively long period (20-25 days) and hence also exported to various Foreign Countries. In South Indian cuisine it is used to make curries.
The winter melon requires very warm weather to grow but can be kept through the winter much like winter squash. The winter melon can typically be stored for 12 months. The melons are used in stir fry or to make winter melon soup, which is often served in the scooped out melon, which has been intricately decorated by scraping off the waxy coating.
Occasionally, it is used to produce a fruit drink which has a very distinctive taste. It is usually sweetened with caramelised sugar, which enhances the taste.
The shoots, tendrils, and leaves of the plant may also be eaten as greens.
Winter melon is a common name for the inodorus cultivar group of the muskmelon (Cucumis melo L), or one of its members alternatively known as casaba, honeydew, or Persian.
Vernacular names
- Mandarin Chinese: 冬瓜 (Pinyin: dōng guā, Wade-Giles: tung¹ kwa¹) or 毛瓜
- Japanese 冬瓜（とうがん） tōgan
- Korean 冬瓜 (동과, 동아), donggwa, donga
- English: ash gourd, Chinese winter melon, fuzzy melon, petha, wax gourd, winter melon, white gourd, green pumpkin
- French: courge cireuse, bidao, courgette velue
- Hindi: petha, pethakaddu
- Tamil: neer poosanikai
- Assamese: Komora
- Bengali: Chal kumra
- Malayalam: കുമ്പളങ്ങ(kumbalanga)
- Telugu: booDida Gummadikaaya
- Kannada: boodagumbala
- Marathi: कोहळा (Kohla)
- Indonesian: beligo
- Tagalog: kundol
- Malay: kundur
- Portuguese: abóbora d’água, comalenge
- Thai: ฟัก (fak)
- Vietnamese: bí đao
- Burmese: Kyauk Pha-Yon Thee
See also
- Double steaming for a Cantonese dish called Winter melon urn (冬瓜盅).
- Sweetheart cake, a famous sweet Chinese pastry made with winter melon.
Konkani : Kunwalay Marathi : Kowhala
External links
- PROTAbase on Benincasia hispida
- Multilingual taxonomic information from the University of Melbourne
- Benincasa hispida
- Benincasa hispida Click on Benincasa in the list on the lower left.
Gallery
 Winter melon. Diameter of the bamboo is about 20 cm. |
