Ash Gourd (flower to fruit)

Description:

Trailing vine like plant with hairy stem. Green gourd with faint fuzz when young and tender. Later, the green skin becomes ashy...hence the name. Edible white pulp.Leaf stalks are long and hairy. Leaf base is deeply heart-shaped. Typical cucurbit flower.

Habitat:

This one was grown in my kitchen garden and so, I could photograph its development...and yeah, we ate it.

Notes:

Also called winter melon, white gourd, winter gourd, tallow gourd, and Chinese preserving melon. Chaal kumro in Bangla. Chaal means Roof. Kumro is generic word for Gourd. Traditionally these and other gourds were trailed on the thatched roof (chaal). Apart from being cooked into many types of curries this is also boiled in thick sugar syrup to make a sweet called Petha.