FreshPoint

Description:

Also known as Po Qwa, Pul Qua and Wee Lo Swa, Bottle Gourds are used as a vegetable while still immature. Treat them as a winter squash. If very fresh, they will keep as long as a month. To use, peel and scoop out the seeds, and cut as desired or cut in half, remove the seeds, and hollow out slightly, then stuff with a mixture of meat and vegetables and bake. More commonly the gourds are used in soups and stir-fries, and the bottle type can be hollowed out and filled with soup, as with a winter melon. The Japanese dry strips of the gourd to use as the edible ribbon known as kampyo.