Winter melon

Winter melon
Winter Melon
Nearly mature winter melon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Subfamily: Cucurbitoideae
Tribe: Benincaseae
Subtribe: Benincasinae
Genus: Benincasa
Savi
Species: B. hispida
Binomial name
Benincasa hispida
Thunb.
Synonyms

Camolenga Post & Kuntze

The winter melon, also called white gourd, ash gourd, or "fuzzy melon", is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. 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.

Winter melon is also a common name for members of the Inodorus cultivar group of the muskmelon (Cucumis melo L), more commonly known as casaba or honeydew melons.

Contents

Uses

In China and Taiwan, the winter melon is used to make soup in the same way as daikon radishes, and is often combined with pork or pork/beef bones. In North India and Pakistan, the vegetable is used to prepare a candy called Petha. In South Indian cuisine, it is used to make curries. Occasionally, it is used to produce a fruit drink which has a very distinctive taste. It is usually sweetened with caramelized sugar, which enhances the taste. In Southeast Asia, the drink is widely marketed as winter melon tea. In China, the winter melon is dried and sweetened and eaten at New Year festivals. In China and Taiwan, it is one of the basis of mooncake for the yearly Moon Festival.

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.

The shoots, tendrils, and leaves of the plant may also be eaten as greens.

Vernacular names

A small bowl of Chinese winter melon soup
A winter melon used as a serving bowl for winter melon soup
  • Arabic: Battikh بطيخ
  • Assamese: komora
  • Bengali: চাল কুমড়া chal kumṛa (lit. "thatch pumpkin")
  • Burmese: kyauk pha-yon thee
  • Chinese: dōngguā (lit. "winter melon")
  • English: ash gourd, (Chinese) winter melon, fuzzy melon, green pumpkin, wax gourd, white gourd, Hairy Melon
  • French: courge cireuse, courgette velue (lit. "hairy zucchini")
  • German: Wachskürbis, Wintermelone (Benincasa hispida)
  • Hindi: पेठा peṭhā, pethakaddu
  • Ilocano: tabungaw
  • Indonesian: beligo, kundur
  • Japanese: とうがん tōgan (冬瓜, lit. "winter melon")
  • Kannada: ಬೂದುಗುಂಬಳ booduguMbaLa
  • Kapampangan: Kundul
  • Khmer: TraLach
  • Konkani: kuvalo
  • Korean: Dongah (동아, lit. "winter melon")
  • Malay: kundur
  • Malayalam: കുമ്പളങ്ങ kumbalanga
  • Marathi: कोहळा kohḷa
  • Portuguese: abóbora d’água (lit. "water pumpkin"), comalenge
  • Sinhala:පුහුල් Puhul
  • Taiwanese: dangguev (冬瓜, lit. "winter melon")
  • Tamil: neer poosanikai (நீர்பூசனி)/வெள்ளைப் பூசனி/கல்யாணப் பூசனி
  • Tagalog: kundol
  • Telugu: boodida gummadikaya (బూడిద గుమ్మడి)
  • Thai: ฟักเขียว fak khiaw (lit. "green squash")
  • Tulu: ಕರ್ಕು೦ಬುಡ karkumbuda
  • Urdu: پیٹھہ, peṭhā
  • Vietnamese: bí đao
  • Mizo: Maipawl

See also

External links

Gallery


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • winter melon — n. [so called because it ripens late] any of a variety of muskmelon (Cucumis melo var. inodorus), as a honeydew melon or casaba, characterized by fruit that lacks a musky odor …   English World dictionary

  • winter melon — noun 1. any of a variety of muskmelon vines having fruit with a smooth white rind and white or greenish flesh that does not have a musky smell • Syn: ↑Persian melon, ↑honeydew melon, ↑winter melon vine, ↑Cucumis melo inodorus • Hypernyms: ↑sweet… …   Useful english dictionary

  • winter melon — sėjamojo meliono vėlyvasis varietetas statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Vaisinis kultūrinis augalas (Cucumis melo subsp. melo var. inodorus). atitikmenys: lot. Cucumis melo subsp. melo var. inodorus angl. casaba melon; honeydew melon; winter… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • winter-melon — šiurkštusis vaškūnas statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Moliūginių šeimos vaisinis, vaistinis kultūrinis augalas (Benincasa hispida), auginamas atogrąžų Azijoje. atitikmenys: lot. Benincasa cerifera; Benincasa hispida; Cucurbita hispida angl.… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • winter melon vine — noun any of a variety of muskmelon vines having fruit with a smooth white rind and white or greenish flesh that does not have a musky smell • Syn: ↑winter melon, ↑Persian melon, ↑honeydew melon, ↑Cucumis melo inodorus • Hypernyms: ↑sweet melon,… …   Useful english dictionary

  • winter melon — noun Date: circa 1900 1. any of several muskmelons (as a casaba or honeydew melon) that are fruits of a cultivated vine (Cucumis melo indorus) 2. a large white fleshed melon that is the fruit of an Asian vine (Benincasa hispida) and is used… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • winter melon — noun a) A vine of the genus Benincasa cultivated throughout Asia. b) A green, fuzzy melon fruit taken from this vine that has sweet white flesh. Syn: ash gourd …   Wiktionary

  • winter melon — a variety of late keeping muskmelon, Cucumis melo inodorus, having a sweet, edible flesh. [1895 1900] * * * …   Universalium

  • winter melon — win′ter mel′on n. pln a variety of late keeping muskmelon, Cucumis melo inodorus, having sweet, edible flesh • Etymology: 1895–1900 …   From formal English to slang

  • winter melon — /ˈwɪntə mɛlən/ (say wintuh meluhn) noun a long green vegetable, Benincasa hispida, with smooth, light green skin …  

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