How Do You Clean the Fuzz of Young Gourds?

Our friend Sue Ban taught us how to cook with gourds.  I love this because yellow squash are so hard to grow without synthetic chemicals.  And this is a more tasty but similar thing.

One complication is that the young, tender gourds are fuzzy.  And unlike peach fuzz, this fuzz is difficult to get off.   I found an easy way to get the fuzz off, to clean the young gourds before cooking.

Go-jo.  Yep, that abrasive hand cleaner that people who work with dirt, mud, grease or such keep in a pump bottle in the shop sink.  It peels the fuzz right off.

Tonight, we’re making a dish with gourd and eggs — and feeling pretty proud that our veggies took almost no work, absolutely no synthetic fertilizer or pesticide.

(You can see pictures of Sue’s garden in Deep Rooted Wisdom)

UPDATE:  We tried soaking the little gourds in salt water and it was terrible.  Made them bitter.   My friend Su Bann told me later; don’t ever use much salt and only use gourds that you can push your thumb nail into — others are too big, too bitter.)

Gourd Flower in Morning Light