What is an African calabash?

What is an African calabash?

Calabash is the term used for artefacts made from the hard shell of a fruit in the gourd family “Lagenaria siceraria.” Once the calabash is dried and hollowed out it can be used for serving or storing food. It can also be used as an inkpot, cosmetic container and by market women as a money box.

What type of food is the calabash?

Lagenaria siceraria (synonym Lagenaria vulgaris Ser. ), bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe.

What is the significance of a calabash?

The word ‘calabash’ denotes bowls, containers and dried gourds that hold anything from milk and butter to firewood. As well as being used as part of everyday routines, the calabash plays a role in ritual practice and serves as a container for spiritual and magical substances.

What is the English name for calabash?

bottle gourd
Calabash (/ˈkæləbæʃ/; Lagenaria siceraria), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean and Tasmania bean, is a vine grown for its fruit.

What does a calabash look like?

The flowers have five petals fused in a funnel shape; they are light green in colour with purple streaks. The fruit’s shell encloses a whitish pulp and thin dark brown seeds.

Can you eat a calabash?

Calabash tree facts make clear that the fruits are not edible to humans but they are used for a variety of ornamental purposes. For example, the shells are used to make musical instruments. Horses, however, are said to crack open the hard shells. They eat the fruit without detrimental effect.

What is Shrimp calabash?

Calabash isn’t just the name of a town, it’s a buzzword for good eating. To prepare food Calabash-style requires coating fresh shrimp, fish, oysters, clams or crabs with a light, flavorful batter, then giving them a dip in a searing hot fryer until they are lightly golden.

What flavor is calabash?

Those that have tried eating the raw pulp in small amounts have found that a calabash has a slightly sour and bitter flavor with very little taste. There is a subtle hint of guava and pineapple with very low levels of sweetness. Some compare the fruit to a soursop, only the calabash is sourer.

Can calabash be used for cooking?

As millions of happy and full folks can attest – they were right! Calabash seafood is not overcooked at all, only being in the hot oil until the batter is golden brown, with just the right amount of grease. Another one of the defining characteristics is the portion size of Calabash cooking.

Where is calabash from?

calabash tree, (Crescentia cujete), tree of the family Bignoniaceae that grows in parts of Africa, Central and South America, the West Indies, and extreme southern Florida. It is often grown as an ornamental; however, it is also used in traditional systems of medicine.

How do you eat calabash?

Carefully slice the fruit in half using a large sharp knife. If the rind is too hard to cut, then you should use a saw. Use a spoon to scoop the flesh out of the fruit and add it to a large pot with the water.

What does a calabash taste like?

What is shrimp calabash?

What’s inside a calabash?

It contains 96% water and per 100g it contains around 12 calories. It is rich in iron and has vitamins C and B complex. Bottle gourd contains sodium of 1.8mg per 100g and 87 mg of potassium – making it a suitable vegetable for hypertensive patients.

What does calabash taste like?

The soft, white pulp can easily be scooped out of the fruit and boiled with water to make calabash juice. This black-colored drink has a mild taste without any sweetness or sourness. It is slightly bitter with a green taste and an aroma like squash and coconut water.

How does calabash look like?