name: Wax Gourd

flavor_db_name_variants: wax gourd

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Wax gourd

id: 499

name_scientific: Benincasa hispida

description: The winter melon, also called white gourd, winter gourd, tallow gourd, Chinese preserving melon, or ash gourd, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The fruit is fuzzy when young. The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten. 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 80 cm in length. Although the fruit is referred to as a "melon," the fully grown crop is not sweet. Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well. Winter melon is also a common name for members of the Inodorus cultivar group of the muskmelon (Cucumis melo L), more commonly known as casaba or honeydew melons.

itis_id: 505894

wikipedia_id: Wax_gourd

picture_file_name: 510.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 39955

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:39:24.000Z

legacy_id: 537

food_group: Gourds

food_subgroup: Gourds

food_type: Type 1

created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:45.000Z

updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:05:26.000Z

creator_id: null

updater_id: null

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: 102211

export_to_foodb: true

public_id: FOOD00499