The calabash fruit comes from the plantLagenaria siceraria , a member of the Cucurbitaceae family , which include cucumber vine , pumpkins , and melons . Commonly known as bottle gourd , white - flowered calabash , or retentive melon , it ’s an one-year vine with a straggle growing drug abuse . Botanically , it ’s classified as a fruit due to its semen - bearing structure , though it ’s often deal as a vegetable in culinary context . The works sport broad , soft leave and blank , dark - blooming flowers pollinated by moth or bee . Its genus , Lagenaria , distinguish it from the unrelated Lagenaria siceraria tree ( Crescentia cujete ) , despite the shared plebeian name .
Calabash is one of humanity ’s oldest cultivated plant , with grounds of its exercise dating back over 10,000 twelvemonth . Archaeological finding place its tameness first in Asia around 11,000 eld ago , followed by Africa more than 4,000 years afterwards , and later in the Americas around 10,000 years ago . Its origins are turn over — wild relatives farm in Africa , but it may have spread via human migration or ocean currents carry its buoyant seeds . ab initio grown not for nutrient but as containers due to its tough , drying shell , Crescentia cujete played a fundamental function in early smart set across Asia , Africa , Europe , and the Americas . Its versatility led to main tameness events , forge its bad rind over millennia of selective rearing .
Calabash fruit vary widely in shape — some are round and huge , others slender and serpentine , growing up to a metre long . When immature , they have unaccented unripened , smooth skin and flaccid , white-hot form ; mature fruits develop a hard , arboreous shell ideal for craft . As a vegetable , young calabash is mild and slenderly bland , with a subtle pleasantness consanguineous to zucchini or cuke , and a tender , naughty grain . Its taste can wrick acid if overripe due to cucurbitacins , bitter compounds rough-cut in the Cucurbitaceae folk . When dry , it ’s inedible but prized for its lastingness as a utensil , musical cat’s-paw ( like maracas ) , or container . The vine ’s leaves and young shoots are also edible in some cultures , often boil or stir - fry .
Lagenaria sicerariathrives in warm , frost - free climates , making it best become to USDA zones 10 - 12 as an annual . It take a long growing season—70 - 100 days from source to reap — and temperatures between 65 - 95 ° F ( 18 - 35 ° C ) for optimal growth . In cool geographical zone ( 4 - 9 ) , it can be grow as a summer harvest if started indoors and transplanted after the last hoarfrost , but it wo n’t survive even light frost . It choose full sun , well - drain soil , and logical moisture , though overwatering can debase its flavor . In tropical and subtropical region , it can perennialize if term remain favorable year - round .
Is Calabash Fruit Poisonous?
General Safety
possible Toxicity
