Slipper Gourd Seeds - Caigua

Caigua, or Stuffing Cucumber, is a nutritious and versatile vegetable with crunch, grown in the Andes Mountains. Its fruits can be eaten raw, sautéed, stuffed, or pickled. This climber also attracts pollinators with delicate leaves and pale flowers.

Cyclanthera pedata, also called caigua or achocha, is a vine from South America with edible fruits used in traditional cuisine and known for its medicinal benefits.

Caigua is a rare annual vine with fruit that turns hollow when ripe and can be used in various dishes. The leaves, shoots, and seeds are also edible. Originated as a lost crop of the Inca peoples, the fruit has a sweet pepper flavor and is popular in Peru. Enjoy raw in salads, stir fries, or stuffed with various fillings and baked. It can also be juiced or used as a vegetable side dish.

• Scientific name: Cyclanthera pedata
• Rank: Species
• Higher classification: Cyclanthera
• Warm season annual
• Maturity: Approx. 50-60 days
• Planting season: Spring/summer

Direct Sow
This beautiful climbing vine has bright green toothed, palmate leaves and long twining tendrils.
This plant is very easy from seed and will suit a position in sun or shade.
It will cover fences, sheds and allotment eyesores with ease.
Its growth rate is astounding in a tropical climate where it is capable of growing 40 feet in a season, but is obviously less vigorous in our northern temperate climate.
From late July through to September it produces tiny cream colored flowers followed by curious edible, smooth gherkin like fruit with a hooked end.