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Kovakkai is a perennial herbaceous climbing vine. It uses small coiled tendrils to latch onto trellises or fences.

Leaves and Flowers

The leaves are green, broad and have 5 pointed structure like a star or ivy shape but the base is heart-shaped.

The white star shaped flowers have five petals. They open for just one day. The male and female flowers grow on separate plants.

Fruits

The fruits are smooth, long, oval shaped. When they are young, they are pale green with white vertical stripes. Once they become mature and ripen, they become bright red, soft, and mildly sweet.

For most Indian culinary dishes using this vegetable, we take the tender fruits.

Culinary uses

Kovakkai is normally made into a side dish in Indian cuisine.

Its leaves, roots, and fruits are used in Ayruvedic medicine.

History of Cultivation in India

Kovakkai is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and has grown wild in tropical and subtropical climates.

In India, there is bitter, wild variety found in forests and a sweeter, domesticated variety found which is cultivated for culinary use.

It is a perennial vine that produces prolifically with little maintenance. It is a staple in most parts of southern and eastern India.

Cultural Significance

In Sanskrit, it is known as the bimba fruit. Many Indian poets and scholars have used the ripe bimba fruit as a metaphor for beautiful, lush, and red lips (bimboshtha).

Home gardening

1. There are two ways in which it can be propagated – stem cuttings and planting the seeds directly. Since the male plant and the female plant is separate, propagation with stem cuttings of a fruit bearing female plant is more reliable.
2. Select a healthy and mature female which is currently producing fruit. Cut a 6-8 inch stem (woody stem) having at least 3-4 nodes.
3. Take a pot of about 15-18 inches deep and wide with good drainage.
4. Fill it with red soil.
5. Insert the bottom half into the soil in such a way that at least 2 nodes are buried.
6. Pour water into the pot till the entire soil becomes moist.
7. Keep it in a place where there is adequate sunlight. 4-6 hours of gentle morning sun and indirect sunlight is sufficient for the first few weeks
8. The first shoots should appear in 10-15 days.
9. Move it into direct sunlight and insert a sturdy trellis

Harvesting

• If you are using as a vegetable, this can be harvested when it is very young and relatively tender or after it reaches full size i.e. about 2 inches but still green and firm.
• The first harvest can be expected in 80-100 days.
• Once it starts producing, pick the gourds every 3-4 days. This encourages the plant to produce further fruits.
• This can produce for 3 to 5 years in a pot. After this, the peak productivity reduces and the plant becomes thick and woody. Gardeners choose to propagate new cutting from the mother plant.
• It gives year-round yield.
• Its maximum growth is during the warm, humid months mainly during monsoon. Production reduces during the hottest and driest weeks.
• At least once a year, it needs pruning to make it produce fresh, green shoots which in turn produce flowers and fruits.