PlantFiles: Achocha, Achokcha, Caihua, Caygua, Cayua, Korila, Wild Cucumber
Cyclanthera pedata

Grows well in Britain. Achocha is somewhat daylength sensitive. Grown outdoors in Britain they usually flower around the equinox in September, then produce fruits quickly. We usually get a worthwhile quantity of fruit before frost kills the plants. Can also be grown in a greenhouse to increase yield. A slender, delicate looking plant, which neverless branches strongly and scrambles over everything.

We eat the small, young fruits in salads before the hard, black seeds develop inside. They have a nice cucumber taste, but they are drier inside than cucumber and lack the 'crunch' of cucumber. Older fruit we split, deseed and use in stirfry and many other dishes. Cooked they somewhat resemble sliced green peppers or zucchini. There are many culinary uses for them.

Dutch name for it is "olijfkomkommer" means "olive cucumber"...We use it as a ornamental vegatable in the garden.

It is a native plant of Peru.used for hundred years to prepare the creole meals such as "Guiso Caiga" or "Caigua Rellena". I 've read that the fruit can be used for medicinal applications such as of high cholesterol, high blood pressure and weight loss treatments. The hypocholesterolemic effect of Cyclanthera pedata is significant and the herb appears to be as effective as the commonly used synthetics.

Young fruit, that look as little about 6 cm cucumbers, can be eaten raw or prepared as pickles. Its leaves are also edible and its roots have been used in the past to clean teeth. Seeds will germinate easy. It can be grown in an arbor and gets about 5 meters.