Help Identifying Large Gourd

By Ilene (Guest Post)

Oh, excuse me, you cannot eat gourds! They are extremely bitter. If this plant is a gourd, you will know because the peel will be tough and extremely hard to cut. A squash, on the other hand, peels quite easily with a knife.

When I was a girl, my mother found a volunteer plant in her garden. She allowed it to grow, and it made fruit that looked like Pattypan squash. Finally one day she picked it and with much effort, sliced it. After deep-frying, we bit into the "squash" and it was SOOOO awful!

This does not look like a gourd to me. I think it's some kind of squash.

By Gayle (Guest Post)

It's a cushaw, related to the pumpkin. I have about 30 of those bad boys in my garden right now. I hope to get them before the groundhogs do.

By Amanda, Phils. (Guest Post)

There are so many kind of gourd here in the Philippines. All gourd can be eaten, depends on the kind you want to cook. The one you have is very good for beef with soup; crabs with chinese noodles and onion soup. That gourd is soft & has a little sweet taste if you'll cook it fresh, otherwise, it taste bland like any leafy vegetables.