Moa Gua is a type of gourd from the cucumber family that can be used in Asian cuisine and other dishes. It has a mild, tender flavor when young and becomes bitter with age. It can be grown at home and is available in Asian markets under various names.
Moa Gua is a type of gourd from the cucumber family. At first glance, it resembles a rather hairy version of a cucumber, with a long, tapered shape and downy skin. It is used in the cuisine of some Asian nations and can be used in a variety of other dishes as well. Some Asian markets offer moa gua and it can also be grown at home, for people who live in temperate climates. Moa Gua gourd seeds are available from many seed companies, especially those that focus on Asian vegetable cultivars.
Like many Asian vegetables, the moa gua gourd has a number of aliases resulting from transliteration confusions. It is also known as mao gua, mogwa and moqua. Some people call it hairy melon, fuzzy gourd, or hairy cucumber, in reference to its appearance, and it’s also called ho bak or bi dao in parts of Asia.
When young, moa gua has a mild, tender flavor, but becomes bitter with age. Both young and old forms are used; Bitter versions are popular in soups, for example, while the tender young vegetable is sometimes used in desserts. In all cases, the flesh of the moa gua is white to creamy in color and the peel is speckled and green; over time, the rind also becomes quite thick, as is common with members of the squash family.
The young moa gua gourd can be used in sauces, stir-fries, soups, stews, and similar dishes. Older vegetables take longer to cook to soften, and their bitterness makes them an acquired taste. In Asia, where bitter flavors are prized as part of a sweet, hot, salty, bitter, and sour palate, older moa gua is often relatively easy to find in markets, where it may also be called winter melon. Older greens also do well in canning and similar preservation techniques.
If you want to grow moa gua squash at home, you can grow it like many other members of the squash family. Start seedlings indoors about two weeks before the last frost of spring and plant them out when the last chance of frost is gone. Keep squash seedlings well watered and provide trellises for them to grow on to encourage fruit to grow out of the ground. Harvest moa gua squash when you’re young for a tender, versatile squash or let it age into an older version, which can be stored in the root cellar over the winter or made into preserves.
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