Stuffed cucumbers are a delicacy, and if you have travelled in the Andes, you may have come across something even better, namely a dish made from the fruits of Cyclanthera pedata – also a cucurbit – which grow a big cavity wanting to be filled with other food stuffs as if to prove “intelligent design”. There is now much hype surrounding the supposedly “pharmacological effects” from swallowing capsules containing a flour made from the dried fruits, but we derive much greater pleasure from eating a well cooked “pepino de rellenar”, or caigua or achojcha as the fruit is known in mountainous areas of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

We have never seen this crop outside its native range, and so it was quite a surprise when our friend Dr Thimmaiah [email hidden; JavaScript is required], an agricultural specialist advising the Ministry of Agriculture in Bhutan, pointed out to us the popularity of Cyclanthera pedata in that country and neighbouring North-Eastern India and Nepal. Elderly informants in Bhutan remember this crop being cultivated by their forbears so it can’t be a recent introduction. It is now grown all over Bhutan, in kitchen gardens and for commercial purposes, at considerable altitude, particularly in the regions of Punaka (altitude 1000-1200 masl), Trashigang (2200-2300 masl), Chukka (2300-2600 masl), Paro (2400-2800 masl) and Bhumtang (2700-3400 masl).

The common names used in Bhutan for this plant include “slippery gourd”,  “olochoto” and “kichipoktho” (crow’s beak), “korila” (also used for bitter gourds) as well as “ajangkairu” and “carabanthu”. Dr Thimmaiah describes the plant as a vigorous annual climber, which grows up to 5-7 meters length. Propagation is by seeds. The plants are spaced at 1 by 1 meters and staked after the first leaves have appeared. In kitchen gardens the plant is allowed to creep on fences. The first fruits can be harvested in about 45 days after planting, and the plants bear fruits for several months. The plant also does well when cultivated in plastic greenhouses during winter months. Slippery gourds fetch a good price in the market. In the early season it is sold at about US$ 2 per kg, at peak season at about US$1 per kg.

In Bhutan the slippery gourd is cooked with local cheese and chillies. The fruit are cut in halves longitudinally and briefly boiled in salted water. Local cheese and chillies are put to the pan and cooked for another 5 minutes. This dish it is called ‘datsi’ or ‘olochoto datsi’.

Fruits of Cyclanthera pedata produced in Bhutan, cut longitudinally to show the large cavity used for stuffing the fruit in Latin America (Photo: A Thimmaiah)

Seeds of Cyclanthera pedata produced in Bhutan (Photo: A Thimmaiah)

A favourable comment by Peter Andersen on our post on the issue of pesticide use in specialty crops turned our attention to rice beans, a crop (Vigna umbellata) which seems to be more susceptible to pests that its reputation as a NUS would have it. It is a shame, but we were previously unaware of the FOSRIN project, in which Peter is involved, on “Food security through ricebean research in India and Nepal”. This is a great project, with excellent information on the crop’s distribution, diversity, agronomy, uses, etc. There is an attractive video, and excellent project reports. We trust that much of this information will be, or has already been, published. However, some of it may not, and we would hope that such grey literature be submitted to Google Books for retrieval beyond the life span of the FOSRIN website.

We particularly liked Report No. 4 on “Indigenous knowledge of ricebean in Nepal“. Among other things, farmers know that ricebeans, if grown for the edible seeds, do well on marginal soils, but on good soils produce luxurious and unwanted foliage at the expense of seeds, for example when intercropped with maize. That is the flip side of nutrient efficiency of traditional crops and varieties in relation to the production of storage organs, which tends to go down with increasing intensification, and the associated greater use of fertilisers. There is plenty of examples of crops that behave under eutrophic conditions in the same manner: much vegetative growth but fewer or no seeds, fruits or underground storage organs. NUS varieties have often been selected, and perform well, under low soil fertility but no modern varieties exist that can take advantage of improved soil nutrient status. Indeed, farmers in Nepal believe that this is one of the factors behind the decline of ricebean production. Clearly, promoting NUS for marginal conditions alone may be too simplistic a message!

The news will have gone around the world many times and reached the many aficionados to Lois at this point of time.

Lois, a great person with an incredible passion is no longer with us on mother earth since Thursday September 29.

For sure her work has left an important landmark and provides us all with an example on how things should be done – with rigor and especially with your heart!

We remember Lois with a smile and always willing to help and promote the vitamin A rich underutilised bananas from the Island of Pohnpei.

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Hijacking from the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research web site:
Plant genetic resources and seeds:
policies, conservation and use India,

Date: 31 October – 18 November 2011
Please see this unique training opportunity organized by the Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation, and the Center for Genetic Resources, The Netherlands, in collaboration with MSSRF in India and LI-BIRD in Nepal.

The course will focus on community biodiversity management (CBM) and resilience, Participatory learning and action research Multi-stakeholder processes and social learning, conservation strategies, genetic resources and climate change policy frame, and it will be held in November 2011 in India.

Here the detailed brochure on the course focus, objectives, target group and further information:

Training programme Brochure