The white gourd, ash gourd, winter melon, or “fuzzy melon”, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is popularly known as “Kundol” in the Philippines. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The fruit is fuzzy when young. The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten. 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 80 cm in length. Although the fruit is referred to as a “melon” the fully grown crop is not sweet. Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well.
Although 96% of its content is water, it has 0.2 % of protein and 0.7mg of iron per 100 grams. Carbohydrates make up 2.9 per cent while calcium is at 0.02 per cent.
Wide-spreading, hairy, annual vine with branched tendrils reaching a length of 4-8 meters. Leaves are rounded or kidney-shaped, 10-20 cm diameter, 5- yo 7-lobed, heart-shaped at the base. Flowers are large and yellow, with a densely hairy bell-shaped calyx tube. The five petals are spreading, 3-5 cm long. Fruit is ellipsoid or ovoid, 25-40 cm long, green, with a white and waxy bloom. The seeds are many, oblong, and compressed.
How to grow White Gourd or Kundol
USE
White gourd has a juicy texture and mild flavor, verging on the bland in mature melons but stronger flavored in semi-mature and young fruit. Its nutritive value is low.
Whole white gourds are stuffed and baked, but their best-known use is in making “winter melon pond soup”, a feature of Chinese banquets. White gourds are also cut into sections, peeled and cut into smaller chunks or slices for use in soup or stir-fried with meat. White gourds is widely used to make pickles, and candied preserve not unlike Turkish delight in taste and texture.
CLIMATE
The optimum temperature when growing is 23-28 °C/73-82 °F. White gourds need a long growing season of about 5 months to develop to maturity, though they can be harvested at various immature stages.
SITE AND SOIL
White gourd is reasonably drought-tolerant. If large fruits are wanted they are grown flat on the ground; otherwise they are allowed to trail over fences etc. or to climb up supports.
SOWING METHOD AND PLANTING
The seeds can be chitted to get them off to a good start. For the first few weeks after germination try to maintain a minimum night temperature of at least 10°C/50°F or higher if possible. The plants can be planted in their permanent positions when 15-20cm/6-8in tall.
Seed can be sown in situ outdoors only in very warm areas, after all risk of frost is past. Mice are partial to the seeds, so set a few mousetraps when sowing. Sow several seeds per station, about 2.5cm/ 1 in deep, and thin to the 1 or 2 strongest when the plants are about 6cm/2 1/2in tall.
SPACING
Where grown upright, allow at least 60cm/2ft between plants. Where trailing over the ground, space them 2.4-3m/8-10ft apart.
FURTHER CARE
Regular feeding, every three weeks or so, with a general liquid feed will be beneficial; such large plants naturally respond to generous feeding.
TRAINING
Plants may need trying to supports, especially in the early stages.
The growing points can be nipped out of climbing plants when they reach the top of the supports, unless there is space to continue training them horizontally. The first fruits are usually borne on the main stem, and later fruits on the laterals that develop. In the later stages of growing points of some of the laterals can be nipped off to keep plants in check. Some Chinese growers advocate nipping out the growing point on the young plant after about 4 leaves have appeared, allowing 4 branches to develop. This method has proved successful in greenhouse production in Europe. It may give earlier fruiting.
Once the fruit starts to form on trailing plants a little straw should be tucked beneath them to keep them dry. Weighty suspended fruits my need to be supported by nets attached to something firm so that they do not pull down the vine.
POLLINATION
Plants usually start to flower 60-80 days after planting, and are insect pollinated. In cold climates fruit setting maybe a problem, with young fruits turning yellow and falling off instead of developing properly. In this case, hand pollination is recommended. One commercial grower in the British isles kept a hive of bees in the greenhouse to ensure pollination.
HARVESTING
Immature Fruit
Very young “hairy melons”, several centimeters/a few inches long, can sometimes be picked as soon as a week after the flowers have been pollinated, as hairy melon. From then on immature melons can be picked at whatever sized they are required. They are used fresh, as they will not keep in good condition for more than a week or two.
Mature Fruit
If wanted for storage it is essential to wait until the gourds are mature and the waxy bloom is starting to appear. This can continue to develop even in storage.
STORAGE
Mature white gourds keep for at least 6 months, sometimes up to a year. They should be stored at cool room temperatures, ideally at 13-15°C/55-59°F in fairly dry atmosphere. They can be suspended in nets or sacks, or placed on shelves, singly, not stacked, with the paler, lower side facing down.
In South China, fruits that mature in early summer are stored in open outdoor sheds for use in the height of summer. They are piled several deep and given a half turn every week.