Have you ever seen such a thing?! This is a winter melon, aka wax gourd, next to a full-size basketball!! The wax coating will help keep this melon fresh for months. Winter melon is mild and really juicy - perfect for adding to a light and tasty soup. White inside, once it's cooked, the winter melon takes on a beautiful translucency and the flavor of whatever it is cooked in. This is the melon that banquet chefs will carve in a bas-relief fashion, pour soup into and steam whole for a pretty darn showy presentation. Honestly though, I'm not sure what kind of steamer this particular winter melon could be cooked in!
Hi Wendy, i think we have something that big also here in the tropics. But i haven't seen it in a long time, as it is not very much used as vegetable or fruits like watermelon or muskmelon. Sometimes, some old people process it as sweets with plenty of sugar, but i haven't tasted it. I now even forgot the Sci name. haha!
ReplyDeleteHoly crap! It is enormous!!!! It sounds delicious for soup...keep us posted on how you use it! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThat's huge melon!
ReplyDeleteYour winter melon is really huge. We do use them for soup exactly the way you described. The Chinese restaurants do present them this way. Most of the time though they do it with coconuts or even old cucumbers.
ReplyDeletemaybe someone will organize a competition for the biggest winter melon and then, Wendy, you will probably win first prize! seriously, though, if that is a full sized basket ball, then the melon is truly gigantic! It must have been amazing watching it grow.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you will have to throw a big party to use that gyt.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy, How interesting! I've never heard of this interesting fruit. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your tip on the Saffron. I still need to get the bulbs planted. I will definitely let you know how it goes...in a year from now. :)
That thing is enormous. I hope that you find a suitable cooking apparatus.
ReplyDeleteNo candy? I have only had one halloween in my entire life without candy. I haven't been as diligent.
Tell me how you are doing this!
A steamer to fit that? maybe a wok that hold a person hehe... I like to get small ones and steam the whole melon with dried longans, some wolfberries and some rock sugar for a really yummy sweet dessert.
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious. I want to rush right out and make some soup ingredients :) Congrats on the lively melon!
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious. I want to rush right out and make some soup ingredients :) Congrats on the lively melon!
ReplyDeleteIn Chinese cooking, we use winter melon to make herbal soups and dessert drinks. The winter melon candy can also be used like sugar cubes. Nowadays, it is getting more difficult to get good winter melon candies.
ReplyDeleteWow. So unusual! I love the color.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting melon. In the photo, it appears to have been made out of concrete!
ReplyDeleteI have not had this for a long time. Thinking of looking whether anyone sells it.
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