Ash Gourd, Methai Petha – Vegetable Seeds

Description

Ash gourd is a tender vine, which produces large fruit. Famous as a wax gourd, winter melon, white gourd, and Chinese watermelon, the immature ash gourd fruit has thick white flesh and is fuzzy in appearance. The botanical name of the ash gourd is Benicasa hispida, with its roots in South and Southeast Asia.

The fruit is covered in a fuzzy coating of fine hairs when young. The immature melon has thick white flesh that tastes sweet. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd.

Planting And Care

• Soil should be well-drained, but maintain adequate moisture either with mulch or plastic covering
• Water one to two inches per week, but remember peppers are extremely heat sensitive
• If you live in a warm or desert climate, watering everyday may be necessary
• Fertilize after the first fruit set
• Weed carefully around plants
• If necessary, support plants with cages or stakes to prevent bending
• Try commercially available cone-shaped wire tomato cages
• They may not be ideal for tomatoes, but they are just the thing for peppers
• For larger fruit, spray the plants with a solution of one tablespoon of Epsom salts in a gallon of water, once when it begins to bloom, and once ten days later

Ash-gourd care:

Ash Gourd Uses:

Medicinal Uses:

• In India, the wax gourd is recognized for its medicinal properties in the Ayurvedic system of medicine.
• Ash gourd is also believed to promote digestion, reduce inflammation, and protect against infection, ulcers, and type 2 diabetes.

Culinary Uses:

• It is one of the few vegetables available during winter in areas of deciduous vegetation.
• Petha is known to be made from ash gourd vegetable which is a very popular sweet in India.