Ode to the Winter Melon aka Wax Gourd.

[Denninmi]

My new favorite vegetable. I grew these this year for the first time SUCCESSFULLY. Possibly due to a combination of our abnormally warm summer AND picking the right varieties, small fruited, short season cultivars. A previous attempted ended with only tiny fruit when frost came. This year, I ended up with a wheelbarrow full from six vines, and most of them are now in storage in my basement. It is said they will last for up to a year, so I'm anxious to see if it's true.

For those totally unfamiliar, it's sort of a watermelon looking waxy coated gourd/squash/melon thing. Inside, it has a central cavity filled with seeds similar to a canteloupe, surrounded by whitish green flesh and a thin, non-edible (to my knowledge) rind with a grey waxy coating. They can be enormous, like 50 lbs or more, but the kinds I grew this year are in the one to five pound range, and are somewhere from about 10 to about 18 inches long, and about 4 to about 10 inches in diameter.

I've found this to be one versatile vegetable. Raw, it's got a nice, fairly light and crisp texture and a neutral flavor -- kind of like summer squash in flavor, but a bit more like Jicama in texture. I have been just putting it sliced into tossed salads, or using it raw with a dip. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it would make a dandy slaw when shredded, mixed with other ingredients, and tossed with either a vinegar and oil based or creamy dressing.

Traditionally, in Asian cuisines it is either stir-fried or steamed/boiled in flavored broths, and Winter Melon Soup is a "classic" of Chinese cuisine.

But, I have been experimenting, and have found it also fries up or bakes up very well in the same way that either summer squash or eggplant will. So, it also can be breaded and fried to make an eggplant Parmesan dish, for example. Or just floured, breaded, or battered and fried. It doesn't even shrink very much when cooked.

Just thought I'd share this. If you happen to come across this in an ethnic market (it's often sold pre-cut into smaller pieces), give it a try and see if you like it.

[grasswire]

1. well, I tried one out of the garden last month

It was so bitter I couldn't see any use for it raw. I was too lazy to make soup. It went into the compost. Yours aren't bitter, I take it?

[Denninmi]

2. No, not bitter at all.

I've not had enough experience with them to know if this is a problem.

I grew bitter melons, too -- I thought, hey, how bitter can they be. Millions of Asians can't be wrong.

Well, after 1 bite, they went to the compost.

[grasswire]

3. maybe it was a bitter melon I tried

That would explain things!

[tigereye]

6. guess I won't be trying bitter melon with chicken at the

Chinese restaurant, then! :rofl:

[hippywife]

4. We got some strange melons this summer,

which we didn't plant, unless we were sent the wrong seeds. They looked like a cantaloupe but had no flavor whatsoever. Still have no idea what they were but we fed them to the chickens since we had no use for them.

[Denninmi]

5. Well, they looked nice.

I had a really bumper crop of regular melons this year. Far more than I could use. My birds ate very well this summer, too.