Winter melon
A large gourd of the melon family with a waxy pale-green rind and thick white flesh, sold whole or cut into wedges at Asian greengrocers. Long boiling turns it translucent and silky, releasing a clean, faintly sweet lightness that makes it the base of summer soups; the rind is often left on in the pot, and the seeds can go in too.
TCM properties
Nature · cooling Flavour · sweet、bland Meridians · lung、large intestine、small intestine、bladder
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy winter melon is used to clear heat, promote water metabolism and relieve summer sultriness, and boiling it with the rind on is held to strengthen this effect.
Cautions: read first
- Take care if you have a weak, cold spleen and stomach or loose stools
- Those weakened by long illness should eat only a little
Preparation
Boiling it with the skin on draws water off better (scrub the outside clean); the winter melon seeds can go into the soup too.
Origin
Widely grown across Guangdong and southern China. Australian stock is locally grown by Asian market gardeners and sold by the wedge at Asian greengrocers
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
