Yes, I too am interested in growing these in New York if if you have a few extra seeds. Where was this one grown?
I got a lovely present yesterday: Four giant gourds and seeds. Big patch going in this year.
And weāre trying something new with photo sharing: Here is a collaborative album. They are only my photos at the moment, but as soon as somebody else adds some our names will be displayed. You can also make comments and look up location they were grown.
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There has been very low rainfall the last few weeks here, so I have been giving this plant about 0.5 liters of water on 5 or 6 days per week. This is doing as well or better than any of my plants from last year when the rain was more consistent, but I didnāt get mature fruit.
I am now weaning this one off of watering. I will make sure it gets watered once or twice this week, from me or by rain, but after that it will need to be on its own. At least until it demonstrates that it will produce flowers and fruit.
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The vine in my previous photo is about twelve feet long now. It has just started to form male flowers. I have a lot of other squash vines growing in the garden and most or all of them started flowering at a smaller size than these vines. Interesting.
There are two or three somewhat smaller chilacayote vines growing in this chaos.
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This photo portrays the most developed of three growing fruit that I have noticed on my plants.
I have observed that the ficifolia does not form nearly as many male or female flowers as the other squash in my garden. Itās a very striking contrast, even vines that are not being productive from squash of other species are at least making male flowers.
I noticed this passage in the description for some ficifolia squash in the Sandhill Preservation seed catalog. Along with another name for the squash which I donāt think Iāve seen before.
Pastella
Pastella- 100 days - Cucurbita ficifolia Also called Malabar Gourd or Fig leaf gourd. White flesh stringy and very moist with black seeds. For years we struggled growing this thinking it was day length sensitive. Finally I had a thought this year that it tends to grow under other plants in its native area so I planted it between a row of trees and some very tall corn and it thrived in the partial light and produced the biggest, best and earliest crop ever. All the time I was planting it in full sun to get as much heat to get it to mature and it wanted more shade.
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I have found another passage about shade written by someone who grows C. ficifolia. What follows is an excerpt from the page Chilacayote ā Farmacie Isolde
In the few English language gardening resources that list this species, the cultural requirements are just plain wrong. This species will absolutely tolerate a cool maritime climate. It will bloom and produce fruit all summer at long day latitudes. And though moderate heat may hasten the production and ripening of fruits, the plants literally go out of their way to get out of the hot sun. Unlike most of the genus, C. ficifolia genuinely prefers some shade.
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Very interesting, thank you for sharing that. I enjoyed the video in the link.
This is my third year growing these, and we had a warmer than average summer (still rarely exceeded 70F though). Surprisingly it has been a rough year for the chilacoyote. For the most part they took forever to flower, then many plants never made a fruit. I had lots of vines sprawling all over the place and not much to show for itā¦ however maybe I should give them another month and miracles may yet happen.
I managed to get one plant to survive this year, but itās been wilting in the summer heat almost every day, even though Iāve pampered it with way more water than I usually give plants. And itās still pretty small, and it hasnāt even flowered yet. I doubt itāll set any fruit before frost, much less ripen them.
I think that passage may be correct that the species wants some shade ā I planted my ficifolia seeds in full sun, and my sun is intense. Iāll try ficifolias in partial shade and full shade next year, and see if any of them do well.
I am trying to get photos of male and female flowers for the shared GTS photo album documenting this species. Every time I go to take photos, the flowers are very curled up. Often filled with dew like a cup in the morning.
Would anyone else who is growing this species be able to document the flowers with less curling, and fueling to contribute that to the shared project?
This is my harvest this year, with a few strains looking a bitā¦ the same!
Cucurbita Ficifolia doesnāt like droughts ! itās the 3th year I see it. Seems to prefer semi-shade : but it is quite a early species : fruits were formed already when plants dried due to heat and drought : both were moderate this year but it was the first species to suffer from themā¦ And I grow the 5 cucurbitas!
Still quite a nice harvestā¦ And once again I donāt know what to do with it 
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We are looking for people who know recipes and people who are willing to try recipes as part of the effort to include a few culinary ideas in the a forthcoming GTS crop guide on chilacayote.
If you cook squash or would like to, maybe you would be interested in testing some recipes and sharing your results? 
Yes I would 
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Awesome! Youāre not obligated, but if you have any feedback or if you wind up trying one of these recipes, I would be grateful to hear what you think.
Debbie found these recipe resources. Iāve read or watched each of these and helped write these brief descriptions, but I havenāt tried any of these out yet myself.
Hereās the current draft of that section:
Recipes
Now that youāve saved your seeds, here are some ideas for using the rest of the fruit. Remember that chilacayote can be frozen for later use.
A thought about searching for recipes. Many of the English-language resources have been developed by people who are, like me, still learning how to use chilacayote themselves. Searching for recipes using the various common names in this Wikipedia article can help discovering recipes from other places and cultures.
These are a few starting points:
- Agua de Chilacayote: Southern Life and Plants created a video demonstrating the preparation of this sweet drink made from malabar squash, one of the common names for this species. One useful aspect of this video is that it clearly portrays a technique to remove the rind of a mature fruit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo8RqKUEPqo
- Shark Fin Soup: Weird Fruit Explorer published this lighthearted video about experimenting with shark fin soup and roasting chilacayote seeds in oil. The recipes themselves may be less useful than the segments about preparing the fruit and the hostās descriptions of the tastes and textures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0KyVPZ9vgw
- Roasted shark fin melon spaghetti with shrimp marinara: Gui Shu Shu published this comprehensively photographed recipe for roasted shark fin melon prepared as a spaghetti squash. The recipe pairs chilacayote spaghetti with marinara sauce and shrimp. Please note: Gui Shu Shu does not puncture the rind in this recipe, but I was taught to cut five or six ventilation slits into the rind of a winter squash when roasting a squash whole. I recommend puncturing the rind. Lets Try Roasting Some Shark Fin MelonāShark Fin Melon Spaghetti With Shrimp Marinara | GUAI SHU SHU
- Cabello de Angel: Cidra is a name for this squash in Spain, where it is used to make cabello de angel: āangelās hairā. These candied strands of the squash are in turn used as pastry filling. Learn how itās made with this recipe from My Kitchen in Spain. MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: SPINNING SQUASH INTO GOLD
- Pie-Melon Chutney: The Snail of Happiness shared a recipe they developed for pie-melon chutney. Pie melon is a name for C. ficifolia that is used in Australia. Pie melon | The Snail of Happiness
- Gluten-Free Chilacayote Empanada and Chilacayote Cocktail: Karen is Cooking developed a gluten free chilacayote empanada recipe and a cocktail as recipe options that use no added sugar. Gluten-free Empanadas with Chilacayote ā Kareniscooking
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Very nice descriptions of the recipes and videos. By the way, I prepared the empanada filling described in the last recipe and used it as a filling in steamed buns. I had to sub spaghetti squash since I have no chilacayote, and added onion and cilantro instead of oregano. So I guess I didnāt make this recipe, but it did inspire me and was tasty. It may be a good filling for crepes.
Debbie
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We had three days of heavy frost, but not a freeze. Most squash plants did not survive.
Cucurbita ficifolia and pepo did the best through the frosts. Just about all of the foliage on this ficifolia died, but itās starting to put on new growth.
My ficifolia climbed the entrance of the greenhouse. Did great without irrigation, wet cool summerā¦ And produced early fruit. Itās still growing bigger fruits which hang high up. Even if they fall it wonāt harm them.
My gf made a marmelade/jam with it. Opening it was a problem because you canāt cut it with a knife the recepi said, so had to bang it on the kitchen sink. It needed a few soaks after taking the seeds out, which were plump and white strangely enough, maybe like @ThomasPicard his seeds, they could be yours or from a local seedswap. Boiled down for 40 minutes, then scraping the flesh off with a wooden spoon, boiling the sugar(lots, same weight as flesh normally) in a cinnamon stick and lemon peel and constantly stirring until it thickens enough and then putting it in a sterilized jar.
I hope to entice other neighbors to try to make this marmelade, but probably it will be a one off.
Just tried a seed, juicy, they open easier than a Maxima seed, but still look a lot like them. I would have liked it better if they were black or green and edible, then it would have become a regular in my garden. Maybe it will be good to grow it as a grass surpressing agent at the edges to prepare for winter rye to finish the job of making land ready for bedsā¦
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In my place they are regrowing now like crazy after august and septembers droughts. So yes they like mild weather and humidity. Interesting to see thise white seeds: I donāt have any. Will use mine later probably. Thanks for the tips!
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No donāt use them all! Send some to me first!
My harvest for 2024. Three more fruit than in 2023 
Iām very excited. Each one came from a different plant.
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I used my basic roasting protocol. I split the squash, removed the seeds, coated the flesh with canola oil and salt, and roasted with the cut side down on 415 degrees for an hour. I let it sit in the oven for about 20 minutes.
I ate it with a spoon and I added salt as I ate. I can immediately see how this could be an alternative to spaghetti pepo squash that would be superior in some uses as a form of pasta. It has a pleasant flavor. I havenāt had spaghetti pepo squash in a while to be sure, but I think this is as good as any spaghetti pepo Iāve ever had.
Iām pretty sure that the seeds I planted were black. I wonder if in this case the tan color represents black seeds that arenāt completely mature.