Winter melon (Benincasa hispida)

 

In this corridor leading to our wine domain, we grow winter melons; in fact it is a wax gourd - also called ash gourd, white gourd, winter gourd, tallow gourd or ash pumpkin.

 

The wax gourd is also widely grown throughout Asia, including Java and Japan, the places where it is thought to have originated.

 

Winter ‘melon’ has soft fuzzy hairs which eventually disappear and develop a waxy coating that gives the fruit a long shelf life of up to a year. However, some species of the winter melon might not have the wax and are dark instead.

 

They are usually around 60-80 cm centimeters in length, but in the FoodMuseum they can grow to a meter long.

 

When mature winter melon is eaten as a vegetable in China and southeast asian countries. It’s a well-known soup ingredient in Cantonese cuisine. The light taste and tender texture of it also make it an ideal filling for pies and other desserts.

Thanks to the favorable temperature in Guangdong, the winter melon here can be cultivated almost throughout the year. It takes from four to six months to harvest.

A popular winter melon – Sanshui winter melon – is cultivated in the city of Foshan. It is actually a hybrid version of two different subspecies of winter melon.

 

(In the windowsill somebody left a tin can with winter melon tea)