Winter melon is a largely shaped fruit that is part of the cucurbitaceae (gourd) family that is often used in Asian cuisines. It is green in color and waxy or fuzzy on the outside.
It can sometimes be found bigger than 1 foot long in length. It can even weigh more than 30 pounds depending on the conditions in which it is grown. Needless to say, the winter melon can be used for many food and drink recipes from its abundance.
Popular Asian cuisines you might be familiar with the use of winter melon include winter melon soup with meatballs or winter melon stir fry with eggs. If you haven’t tried a recipe for winter melon soup, you’re missing out. Thank us later.
The scientific name of winter melon is known as benincasa hispida. You can find other names that are used very often below.
- Wax Gourd
- White Gourd
- Ash Gourd
- Winter Gourd
Health Benefits of Winter Melon
Nutrient Rich
Like many fruits and vegetables, the winter melon is mainly water but contains high amounts of nutrients.
Most importantly it is rich in fiber.
Rich fiber in fruits and vegetables allows for optimal bowel functionality. Fiber helps or aids in the digestion of food and other consumables. With winter melon, you can find roughly 2-4 grams of fiber for every 100 grams of winter melon.
Vitamin B2
Winter melon is found to have a healthy amount of vitamin B2 (Riboflavin).
Vitamin B2 aids in many bodily functions and health like breaking down the foods you eat, maintaining a healthy energy level, and even aiding in chronic migraines.
Feel free to do more research into what winter melon consists of. There’s a lot of beneficial elements of winter melon and we wanted to highlight some of them for you.
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