Culinary The fruit, seeds, buds and young leaves can be eaten cooked, resembling
pumpkin or
zucchini. The gourd can be stored for many months, much like
winter squash. Ash gourds of the Indian subcontinent have a white coating with a rough texture (hence the name ash gourd). Southeast Asian varieties have a smooth waxy texture. It is one of the few vegetables available during winter in areas of
deciduous vegetation. In India, the wax gourd is viewed as having medicinal properties in the
Ayurvedic system of medicine. In
Cambodia, it is known as
tralach (), and used in soup and stews in
Cambodian cuisine. It is commonly used to make
samlor tralach, which is winter gourd and pork soup, or stuffed pork in the gourd. In Chinese cuisine, the gourds are used in stir fries or combined with pork or pork/beef bones to make winter gourd soup, often served in the scooped out gourd, carved by scraping off the waxy coating. It is also chopped and
candied as
wintermelon candy (
dōng guā táng), commonly eaten at
New Year festivals, or as filling for
Sweetheart cake (
lǎopó bǐng). It has also been used as the base filling in Chinese and Taiwanese
mooncakes for the Moon Festival. In
Vietnamese cuisine, it is called
bí đao, and is usually used to make soup or stew. When cooked with pork short ribs, the resulting soup is traditionally thought to help produce more milk for breastfeeding mothers. In the
Philippines, it is called
kundol and is candied or used as a pastry filling for
hopia. It is also an ingredient in some savory soups (
sabáw) and stir-fried (
guisado) dishes. In Indian cuisine, it is traditionally used to prepare a wide variety of dishes. In northern India it is used to prepare a candy called
petha. In
South Indian cuisine, it is traditionally used to make a variety of
curries, including
sāmbār and a stew (
mōr kuḻambu, made with a
yogurt base. The juice of the raw ash gourd (Maipawl or Khar) is used by the
Mizo community and
indigenous Assamese ethnicities of North-East India as a natural remedy to treat mild to severe dysentery. In north India, particularly in the middle Himalayas, it is paired with pulses such as
moong which, when crushed, along with winter gourd, make a dish locally called
bori. When dried in sunlight it becomes somewhat hard and is used in curry dishes and eaten with rice or
chapati. This practice is especially prevalent in the Himalayas due to the long shelf life of the resulting product. In western Bihar as well as eastern Uttar Pradesh, it is called
bhathua (भथुआ). In Sri Lanka, it is called
puhul (පුහුල්) and
alu puhul (අළු පුහුල්). In Andhra Pradesh, it is called
Boodida Gummadikaya (బూడిద గుమ్మడికాయ
Telugu). It is used to make stews, stir fries and vadialu. Vadialu are made by chopping the gourd in small pieces and mixing with ground
urad beans and spices, then sun-drying. To eat, vadialu are deep fried in oil and eaten as an accompaniment to rice and
sambar or lentil stews. made from wax gourd It is known as Kohalaa (कोहळा) in the
Marathi language. Kohala is used to prepare a sweet dish called Kohalyachi Vadee, a kind of
Barfi. It is also used to make
Sambar. In
Gujarat, it is called kolu (કોળુ). In
Bengal, it is called "ChaalKumro" (চালকুমড়ো ). There are various dished made with it, viz., ChalKumro’r Bora, Chalkumro ghonto, Chalkumror dudh curry, with mung dal, etc. In Odisha it is called (ପାଣି କଖାରୁ), it is used in various types of recipe all over Odisha. It is the main ingredient to prepare a candy-like food (ବଡ଼ି) for curry or as a supplement mainly with watered rice. In
Nepal, where it is called Kubhindo, it is cooked as a vegetable when young, but the ripe gourds are usually made into preserves or crystallized candy known as "murabba" or "petha". Occasionally, it is used to produce a fruit drink, usually sweetened with caramelized sugar. In Southeast Asia, the drink is marketed as wax gourd tea or
wax gourd punch. The
shoots,
tendrils, and
leaves of the plant may are sometimes eaten as
greens.
Other purposes The ash gourd is also used by Hindus as a sacrificial offering in lieu of animal sacrifice. The gourd is marked with
vermillion and split in two with a sword. In
Kerala, the plant is called കുമ്പളം
kumbalam and the fruit is called കുമ്പളങ്ങ
kumbalanga or കൂശ്മാണ്ടം
kooshmandam. It is traditionally used to offer 'Guruthi' (ഗുരുതി) instead of 'Kuruti' (കുരുതി) among Malayali
Brahmins. Thus, instead of offering someone's life in the pyre, an ash gourd is cut into two as a symbolic performance in lieu of human sacrifice. In
Karnataka, the ash gourd is known as Boodu Kumbalakaayi (ಬೂದು ಕುಂಬಳಕಾಯಿ) (
Kannada) and Boldu Kumbda in
Tulu, and is used to prepare dishes like Kodel (
Sambhar), Ale bajji, Kashi Halwa and chutney. It is widely used during Dasara and other festivities while performing
pooje. Its fruit was often dried as containers to store infused coconut oil among
Polynesians (known as
fa(
n)
gu or
hue ʻaroro – latter not to be confused with the other
hue gourd). == Cultural significance ==