Squash - The Manual of Seed Saving - page 231

Calabash seeds
HARVEST When stems turn yellow/brown, fruits are ready to harvest. They should then be stored in a
temperate (but not too warm) and well-ventilated place for further ripening and drying. Seeds can ger-
minate or rot when fruits are stored in temperatures that are too high. Calabashes with ripe seed are
lightweight, and their seeds rattle inside. Fruits must be dry before seeds are removed. Make a small
hole in the rind to remove seeds, so the rind can be used thereafter. Scrape out seeds with a small
spoon. Some people are allergic to the dried, dusty fruit flesh; wear a dust mask if no one else is avail-
able to remove seeds for you. Bendable seeds are too wet for storage and should be further dried until
they are hard and have the typical brown color. Though some varieties do produce white seed, usually
white seed is a sign of unripeness (test: ripe seeds can be broken with a fingernail). Some calabash
seeds become hard, yet are not viable; break a few to see if the endosperm has indeed developed.
Male calabash flower
A diverse array of bottle gourds (from bottom left): 'Mini Bottle', 'Weinheberkürbis' (wine dispenser squash), 'Speckled
Swan', and 'Dinosaurierkeule' (dinosaur leg)
DISEASES AND PESTS Calabash plants rarely succumb to disease. Protection seems to come from the
strong smell of the plant and its fuzzy leaves.
CULTIVATION HISTORY Bottle gourds are known only in their cultivated form. Because they can be
made into so many useful things, they were important parts of many cultures before ceramics were ad-
opted. They originated in southern and eastern Asia, from which latter region comes the earliest evid-
ence of their cultivation (5000-3000 BC ). They arrived in Egypt in 3500 BC as commodities, and the
oldest written documentation concerning them dates from 6th-century northern China. Yet the oldest
finds are from the New World (7200 BC ): calabash seeds remain viable even after drifting in oceanic
saltwater for many months, which is presumably how they traveled from the Old World to the New.
Wild populations can now be found in southern and eastern Africa.