The Snake Gourd

Oh, my - the stuff that I find! This is one very unusual plant!

The beautiful Snake Gourd flower may look like it belongs on a festively wrapped present, but it’s actually a vegetable! The Snake Gourd originated as a wild vegetable that grew in India, but these days it is cultivated around the world. It’s a member of the pumpkin family (like all gourds) and shares similarities with the bitter melon plant, as the long vegetables it produces taste quite sour and bitter. Despite its terrible taste, the fruit from the Snake Gourd flower is used in a variety of different medical applications, and the reddish fruit inside an overly-ripe gourd can also be used as a tomato substitute when cooking. It may be named the Snake Gourd, but we think it looks more like a spider.

 The common name "snake gourd" refers to the narrow, twisted, elongated fruit. The soft-skinned immature fruit can reach up to 150 cm (59 in) in length. Its soft, bland, somewhat mucilaginous flesh is similar to that of the luffa and the calabash. It is popular in the cuisines of South Asia and Southeast Asia and is now grown in some home gardens in Africa. With some cultivars, the immature fruit has an unpleasant odor and a slightly bitter taste, both of which disappear in cooking. The fruit becomes too bitter to eat as it reaches maturity, but it does contain a reddish pulp that is used in Africa as a substitute for tomatoes.

The shoots, tendrils, and leaves are also eaten as greens.

The lace-like flower of T. cucumerina opens only after dark. Here, it is shown almost completely unfurled:

 An edible immature snake gourd:

 

 Different maturity stages and shapes as seen in cultivation.

 

 Flower and flower buds:

Good heavens! I spend WAY too much time on the webz!!

 Going to take tomorrow off and finish reading my book.....

........ out back and on the deck.....

.........with a nice cold drink!

(and refills close at hand!)

:o)