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

廣東及華南各地廣泛種植 — Australian stock is locally grown by Asian market gardeners and sold by the wedge at Asian greengrocers

Availability in Australia

Common at Asian grocers

Pairs well with