Snake Beans: Don’t Fear This Tasty Gourd

Snake beans are my newest favorite plant.

I grew them for the first time this year. They’re not a bean but actually a gourd. The scientific name is Trichosanthes cucumerina. Like all gourds, they’re a vining plant. So I planted them from seed along one side of an arched cattle panel trellis.

I think I planted six seeds in April. The vines have completely covered the entire trellis. A few weeks ago, they made their first fruit.

You can eat the fruits fresh or cooked. When eaten fresh, they taste like a cucumber with a hint of peanut. Cooked, they taste very much like green beans, hence the name. And if you grow them, you’ll know where the “snake” part of the name comes from. They can get really big. If they hang on a trellis, the fruits will grow relatively straight. But if they’re close to the ground, the fruits grow into a spiral that looks eerily like a coiled up snake.

I’m told they taste best when somewhat small – 12 to 18 inches in length. So I’ve been trying to pick them at that size. But they’re kind of hard to find in the mass of vines and leaves. So a few have gotten really big. There is one especially large one growing in the center of my trellis. I think I’ll leave it to see how big it can get, and then harvest seeds from it.

The really big ones form a somewhat hollow center filled with red pulp and seeds. I’ve heard you can scrape the red pulp out and use it like tomato paste.

The vines produce hundreds of the most interesting white flowers I have ever seen. They look like something from another planet. The flowers are quite fragrant when they open at night. In the early morning, I can sometimes smell them on the other side of the garden.

Best of all, these gourds love the heat. I only water them occasionally during dry spells. But with the rain we’ve been getting, I haven’t watered them at all in about two weeks.

By the way, I recently wrote about the cushaw squash I grew this summer. I harvested the rest of the patch last week and it almost filled the bucket on my John Deere 4020 tractor. It’s bound to be a few hundred pounds. These squash are supposed to be similar to butternut squash. I made one of them into a Mexican- style pumpkin soup last week. It was pretty good, but I think they’ll get even better after curing for a few weeks. They’re supposed to keep a couple months at room temperature without rotting.

I don’t think we can eat all of this. If anyone wants some, I’m open for trade. I bartered a few of them this week for a quart of beef tallow. Email me at andy@fayettecountyrecord. com.