Lesson 6.49.0 NEW GUINEA BEAN - Lagenaria siceraria

  

FOOD FOREST COURSE

AGRO-ECONOMY Lesson 6.49.0 

NEW GUINEA BEAN - Lagenaria siceraria

 

Bottle gourd, Cuccuzi or Cucuzza are some of the other names for New Guinea Bean.

It grows well in all in the warmer climates from the Mediterranean to Taiwan and Japan.

This enormous gourd is really something to impress your friends with as they can weigh up to 50kg!  They are great to eat and I find it hard to tell the difference between a cooked zucchini and a New Guinea Bean.

Cultivation

New Guinea bean is from the gourd family and is grown like any other cucurbit.  The seeds are planted in pots or directly in the garden when the soil starts to warm up.  They can be planted until early summer in the sub-tropics.  A strong support like a nearby tree or even a shed is essential as when I grew my first vine it eventually dragged down a part of a young persimmon tree that was growing nearby!  The enormous gourds that form will, like zucchini, grow very quickly.  I once showed somebody around the garden, and he was a little taller than me so as he followed me, he had a collision with this enormous gourd that was hanging down from above.  We were both so surprised at the size of it and it took the two of us to take it down.  There is no need however to have too many of these gourds come to full size, it is only when you need to keep some for seed saving that they should stay on the vine until they have matured, turned brown and dry.  The seed will, like any other gourd, rattle in the pod and on opening the outer casing you will be blessed with an enormous number of seed that ought to be passed onto your friends. 

The New Guinea bean does not cross pollinate with any of the other cucurbits but only within the Lagenaria family, so there is not much of a problem with crosspollination.  All seed of the gourd varieties have an unmistakable shape, as they are rather flat, angular and long, with a jagged end.  The seed should be thoroughly dried before storage and then they will remain viable for around five years.  Gourds rely on moths and other night insects for pollination.

Powdery mildew can be a problem, especially early in the growing season.  The usual treatment of diluted milk or even a copper sulphate solution can be applied to keep the mildew under control but like any plant, if adequate moisture and soil fertility is available at the right time of the year then the plant can’t help but thrive.  Plenty of organic matter is important as this vine is a fast grower but I have grown it successfully outside the garden without any real attention and it has done well for me.

Food value

The New Guinea Bean is a good substitute for zucchini when the summer heat and rain make it difficult to grow them.  Pick the fruit when no larger than twelve to eighteen inches long and peel the outside light green skin and slice them diagonally (cut out the centre if the seed are forming and discard).  Fry the slices in some hot ghee and serve with freshly milled black pepper for a treat.

 

This type of gourd belongs to the thin-skinned family of gourds and is therefore not very suitable to make into vessels as you would with the other varieties.  This is a safe way to tell the eating varieties from the non-eating ones.  I once grew an ornamental gourd for shaping into vessels and I cooked some up in a stew and we had upset stomachs for a while, so be warned and make sure you have the eating varieties that are safe to eat.

Text from the roots, Elisabeth Ferkonia (Aus.) PDC studied with Bill Mollison.

 



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