Winter melon
Nearly mature winter melon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Cucurbitales Family: Cucurbitaceae Genus: Benincasa Species: B. hispida
Binomial name
Benincasa hispida Thunb.

The winter melon (Chinese: 冬瓜; pinyin: dōngguā, Japanese 冬瓜（とうがん）tougan, also called white gourd or ash gourd, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable. The fruit is fuzzy when young. 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 1-2 metres in length. The word "melon" in the name is somewhat misleading, as the fruit is not sweet. Image File history File links Description Nearly mature fruit of Benincasa hispida (winter melon) Source Japanese wikipedia - ja:画像:W_tougan4091. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class of flowering plants. ... Families Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) Begoniaceae (begonia family) Datiscaceae Tetramelaceae Corynocarpaceae Coriariaceae Anisophylleaceae The Cucurbitales are an order of flowering plants, included in the rosid group of dicotyledons. ... Genera Abobra Acanthosicyos Actinostemma Alsomitra Ampelosycios Anacaona Apatzingania Apodanthera Bambekea Benincasa Biswarea Bolbostemma Brandegea Bryonia Calycophysum Cayaponia Cephalopentandra Ceratosanthes Chalema Cionosicyos Citrullus Coccinia Cogniauxia Corallocarpus Cremastopus Ctenolepis Cucumella Cucumeropsis Cucumis Cucurbita Cucurbitella Cyclanthera Dactyliandra Dendrosicyos Dicoelospermum Dieterlea Diplocyclos Doyerea Ecballium Echinocystis Echinopepon Edgaria Elateriopsis Eureiandra Fevillea Gerrardanthus Gomphogyne Gurania Guraniopsis... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Carl Peter Thunberg (November 11, 1743 _ August 8, 1828) was a Swedish naturalist. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Fruit (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Vegetable (disambiguation). ... candle wax This page is about the substance. ... Shelf-life is the length of time that corresponds to a tolerable loss in quality of a processed food. ... For other uses, see Melon (disambiguation). ...

Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well. In North India it is cut into rectangular pieces and boiled in a sugar syrup to create a translucent, almost clear candy or sweet, and is often flavored with rose water. In this form it keeps and cans well allowing it to be sold in canned form around the world. In South India it is used to make curries. Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... East Asia Geographic East Asia. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ... Rosewater is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals. ...

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. Winter squash is a warm-seasoned vegetable. ...

Occasionally, it's used to produce a fruit drink which has a very distinctive taste. It is usually sweetened with caramelised sugar, which enhances the taste.

The shoots, tendrils, and leaves of the plant may also be eaten as greens. This article is about the plant section. ... In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape that is used by climbing plants for support and attachment, generally by twining around whatever it touches. ... Look up foliage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Fresh Swiss chard Fresh water spinach Creamed spinach Steamed kale Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, greens, or leafy greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. ...

Winter melon is a common name for the inodorus cultivar group of the muskmelon (Cucumis melo L), or one of its members alternatively known as casaba, honeydew, or Persian. In science, a common name is any name by which a species or other concept is known that is not the official scientific name. ... Under the ICNCP, a Cultivar Group is a gathering of cultivars. ... Binomial name Cucumis melo L. Muskmelon refers to the many cultivars of Cucumis melo, and is one of the broader group of fruits grown and traded as melons. ... Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ...

Vernacular names

• Mandarin Chinese: 冬瓜 (Pinyin: dōng guā, Wade-Giles: tung¹ kwa¹); 节瓜 (jiéguā); or 毛瓜 (máoguā)
• Japanese 冬瓜（とうがん） tougan
• English: ash gourd, Chinese winter melon, fuzzy melon, petha, wax gourd, winter melon, white gourd
• French: courge cireuse, bidao, courgette velue
• India: petha, pethakaddu
• Tamil: neer poosanikai
• Bengali: Chal kumra
• Malayalam: kumbalanga
• Telugu: booDida Gummadikaaya
• Kannada: boodagumbala
• Indonesia: beligo
• Malay: kundur
• Portuguese: abóbora d’água, comalenge
• Tagalog: kundol
• Thai: ฟัก (fak)
• Vietnamese: bí đao
• Myanmar: Kyauk Pha-Yon Thee

Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Bengali or Bangla (IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit languages. ... Malayalam ( ) is the language spoken predominantly in the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Telugu may refer to: Telugu language Telugu literature Telugu people Telugu script Telugu films Look up Telugu in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Look up Malay in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Tagalog (pronunciation: ) is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. ...

See also

• Double steaming for a Cantonese dish called Winter melon urn (冬瓜盅).
• Sweetheart cake, a famous sweet Chinese pastry made with winter melon.

Double steaming is a Chinese cooking technique to prepare delicate food such as bird nests, shark fins etc. ... A sweetheart cake or wife cake is a traditional Chinese pastry made with winter melon and almond paste. ...

External links

• PROTAbase on Benincasia hispida
• Multilingual taxonomic information from the University of Melbourne
• Benincasa hispida
• Benincasa hispida Click on Benincasa in the list on the lower left.

Gallery

Winter melon. Diameter of the bamboo is about 2 cm. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 408 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1212 × 1781 pixel, file size: 393 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Template:Photo taken in Hong Kong File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old...