- Type
- Gourds & Squash
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Season
- Summer·Fall
- Sowing
- From seed
Winter melon (wax gourd)
Benincasa hispida
96% water, in a gourd that keeps whole through the winter
Winter melon is the large fruit of an annual gourd vine. As it matures a white waxy bloom forms on the rind, which gave it the name baek-donggwa, white winter gourd, and it appears under that name in the vegetable section of the Donguibogam. A single fruit reaches 5 to 10 kg and runs around 96% water, so it tastes of almost nothing on its own and works instead by absorbing whatever it is cooked with. Left whole somewhere cool it keeps for months, right through winter, which is where the winter in its name comes from. In cities you rarely see a whole one, only the cut wedges sold by weight. Because it belongs to the gourd family, it is worth tasting a very small piece before preparing it. If that piece is bitter, spit it out rather than swallowing, rinse the mouth, and throw the whole fruit away. The bitterness comes from cucurbitacins, which cooking does not remove, and which turn up in fruit grown from saved seed or crossed with ornamental gourds.
Year-Round Calendar
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Where It Grows
- Main producer The south — Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and elsewhere — is the centre, and the country grows and eats more of it than anywhere else in the world.
- Major producer Known as ash gourd, it is grown widely across the southern and northern plains.
- Major producer It is grown as a summer vegetable in the Mekong Delta and the Red River basin.
- Major producer Rainy-season cultivation on the central plain is the mainstay.
It appears to originate in the tropics stretching from South Asia through Southeast Asia, and cannot be pinned to a single country. It reached East Asia early and established itself in China as a major vegetable, and both production and consumption still remain within Asia. It is not a crop tracked separately in international statistics, so the ranking above is an approximation.
- Optimum
- 25~30℃
- Range
- 15~35℃
- Hardiness
- Not hardy
This is a vine of tropical origin, so the fruit swells best where it is hot and the sun is strong. Growth stops below 15℃ and the plant cannot survive frost, so a frost-free stretch of more than five months is needed to get large fruit. It drinks a great deal of water, but if the supply is cut off and then suddenly restored, the fruit splits.
In Korea Central Korea and south
A long frost-free period is needed for the fruit to swell, which favours the south. Large-scale cultivation is rare now; it is grown in kitchen gardens and on small plots.
How to grow
- Light
- Six hours of direct sun or more. Fruit will not size up without both light and warmth.
- Soil and depth
- Rich, well-drained soil. Dig in plenty of well-rotted compost two weeks before planting. In a container you need 100 L or more, which realistically means a tub rather than a pot.
- Spacing
- The vine runs 4 to 5 m. Allow at least 1 m between plants and 2 m between rows. One plant per container is the ceiling.
- Watering
- Big leaves and a fruit made of water mean heavy demand. Soak it every morning in summer and never let it dry out through August while the fruit is filling. Water that stops and then suddenly returns splits the fruit.
- Feeding
- Start with a generous base dressing, then feed with a potassium-rich fertiliser every three weeks once fruit sets. Nitrogen alone gives you vine and very few female flowers.
- Harvest
- August to October, once the white bloom covers the rind evenly and the fruit sounds dull when tapped. Cut leaving 5 cm of stem attached and it stores far longer. For young winter melon, pick at 1 to 2 kg while the skin is still edible.
What makes the difference. Weight is the real problem in a container. A fruit over 5 kg hanging in the air will tear the vine off its support, so if you trellis it, sling each fruit in a net or cloth hammock. For a first attempt, let the vine run along the ground and slip a board or a sheet of polystyrene under each fruit to keep it off the soil. Thin to two or three fruit per plant while they are small; anything more and none of them size properly.
Why this one is harder. The vine runs 4 to 5 m and a single fruit weighs 5 to 10 kg. Carrying one through to harvest in a balcony pot is not realistic.
Common problems
- Powdery mildew You will see White floury patches spreading over the leaves, which then dry out What to do Thin the lower leaves for airflow and water the soil rather than the foliage.
- Cotton aphid You will see Dark colonies on shoot tips and leaf undersides, with leaves curling What to do Wash them off with water early on; if it escalates, use a registered product aimed at the leaf undersides.
- Cucurbit leaf beetle You will see Round holes chewed through leaves, seedlings stalling What to do Cover young plants with fine mesh, and hand-pick any beetles you see.
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
Traditional use. Winter melon flesh and seed have a long record of use as herbal materials, and the plant is listed in the vegetable section of the Donguibogam as baek-donggwa. What is stated here is only that this traditional use existed.
A low-energy ingredient. At about 13 kcal per 100 g with a lot of bulk, it is an ingredient people reach for when they want to keep the volume of a meal while lowering its energy. That is not a claim about any disease.
Nutrition
- Water (About 96 g per 100 g) — 13 kcal per 100 g
- Dietary fibre (About 2.9 g per 100 g) — The crisp grain that survives cooking
- Vitamin C (About 13 mg per 100 g) — Heat-sensitive; lost in long boiling
- Cucurbitacin (The bitter compound particular to the gourd family) — Not destroyed by cooking
96% water, 13 kcal per 100 g Winter melon is around 96% water, among the highest of any vegetable. At roughly 13 kcal per 100 g you can put a generous amount into a soup without thinking about it. The flip side is that its own flavour is just as dilute, so what you taste is the stock it soaked up.
About 2.9 g of fibre per 100 g Despite all that water it still carries close to 3 g of fibre per 100 g. That fibre is why it turns translucent when cooked yet keeps a slight bite. Boil it too long and the structure collapses into mush, so add it in the last 15 minutes of a soup.
Vitamin C There is roughly 13 mg of vitamin C per 100 g. It is heat-sensitive and mostly gone after long boiling, so if you want to keep it, slice thin and cook briefly.
The waxy rind and the seeds The white bloom on a ripe rind is a wax layer that stops the fruit losing water. It is the reason a whole melon in a cool, airy place lasts for months. The seeds have their own place in herbal practice under the name donggwaja.
If it tastes bitter, that fruit does not get eaten Gourd-family plants carry bitter compounds called cucurbitacins. Cultivated varieties sold for food are usually mild, but the bitterness can come back strongly in fruit grown from saved seed or crossed with ornamental gourds. Cooking does not remove it, so taste a very small piece before preparing the fruit. If it is bitter, spit it out instead of swallowing, rinse the mouth, and throw the whole fruit away rather than cutting the bitter part out. Do not press gourd-family fruit into a raw juice to drink.
Pairings
○ Rich stock and meat — Added to a bone or chicken broth, winter melon drinks up the stock and turns silky. It also cuts the heaviness of a fatty soup. The later you add it, the more texture survives.
○ Dried shrimp and shellfish — Simmered with strongly savoury ingredients like dried shrimp or scallop, the melon takes on flavour it does not have. That is exactly the construction of Chinese winter melon soup.
○ Ginger and pepper — It is a cooling ingredient, so warming spices balance it. Adding a few slices of ginger to a braised winter melon dish is the practical version of that idea. Black pepper · Ginger
△ A bitter fruit — spit it out and throw the whole thing away — Gourd-family fruit carry bitter compounds called cucurbitacins. Taste a very small piece before you start preparing the fruit, and if it is bitter, spit it out rather than swallowing, then rinse the mouth. Cooking does not destroy it, so cutting the bitter part away achieves nothing and the whole fruit goes in the bin. Do not begin a raw preparation, dressed salad or pressed juice, before that taste test.
△ Saved seed — the bitterness comes back — Varieties sold for eating have been bred mild. Seed saved from them and sown again, or a plant crossed with ornamental gourds and loofahs growing nearby, can throw fruit with that bitterness back at full strength. Buy seed of an eating variety when growing for the table, and taste a small piece of every fruit from a saved-seed planting, whatever it looks like.
Varieties
- Waxy-skinned winter melon (Seed) — A thick white bloom settles on the skin as it ripens. The best keeper.
- Green-skinned winter melon (Seed) — Little bloom and a deep green skin. Slightly smaller.
- Small-fruited line (Seed) — Bred to 1-2 kg. The better choice where space is tight.
- For young melon (Seed) — Picked before full size and used skin and all. A matter of harvest timing rather than variety.
Source: Rural Development Administration (nongsaro.go.kr) · Korean Plant Names Index (listed in Donguibogam, Vegetable Section, as 白冬瓜)