Could achocha be a successful new crop for your veg plot?
It can be difficult for gardeners to adapt to new crops, unless they show a clear benefit over crops that are currently grown. But the results of our recent experiment into achocha - a cucurbit crop thought to originate from South America1 – suggests it might be well suited to our climate, even during a wet summer.
This would mean it could be grown as an alternative to the more common glasshouse-grown crops such as cucumber or pepper. And, as many of these crops are also imported, these homegrown alternatives could help reduce our carbon footprint.
What is achocha? 🔗
Achocha (Cyclanthera spp.) is also known as Bolivian cucumber, caigua, caihua, stuffing gourd, slipper gourd or climbing cucumber. It’s commonly found at altitude in the Andes, in Peru and Bolivia, but it’s also widely cultivated throughout South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean2.
There are two main types of achocha, which are different species and have different shaped leaves and fruit. ‘Fat Baby’ (Cyclanthera brachystachya) has cordate leaves (shaped like a playing card spade) and grows single fruits that are covered in soft, fleshy spines. ‘Lady’s slipper’ (Cyclanthera pedata) has palmate leaves and sets smooth fruits in pairs.
The ‘Fat Baby’ type was trialled at our organic gardens in Ryton because it’s generally more resilient to outdoor growing conditions. Its less resilient cousin, ‘Lady’s Slipper’ is sometimes deemed more desirable, as it produces larger smoother fruits that are good for stuffing3.
How to grow these fruiting vines 🔗
Achocha is best grown as a vertical vine, which is quite vigorous and can reach two metres high. It produces small white flowers, which are highly attractive to pollinators and beneficial insects.
Like most cucurbits, achocha produces both male and female flowers on the same plant. The male flowers are produced in clusters and can be quite difficult to spot if you don’t know what you are looking for. The female flowers are easier to see as they are produced singly, and the small spiny fruit develop underneath them.
These small hollow fruits are technically berries, with an outer green shell (the mesocarp) and a fluffy white flesh (the endocarp) that also contains the seed4. The fruits are commonly described as having the texture of a pepper and the taste of a cucumber. It’s best to remove the seeds of older fruits and then bake and stuff. The fruits have also been shown to contain elevated levels of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds4.
Our achocha trial 🔗
We sent achocha seeds out to 117 Garden Organic members, of which 61 returned results. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the performance and eating qualities of achocha in a wide range of locations around the UK, and see if it could be a suitable alternative – performance and taste wise – to cucumber or pepper.
Participants planted four plants around a wigwam after the last frost, which rapidly produced a large quantity of foliage. Most plants flowered after two months in mid-July, and fruits were ready to harvest a few weeks after flowering, by early to mid-August.
The 2024 growing season was cold and wet and many people remember it as the ‘year of the slug’. Although some people inevitably lost plants, many also said the plants were “left alone” by slugs, even when everything else was severely damaged or lost.
One participant said: “Achocha was one of the few crops that didn't get badly chewed by the slugs during this very damp growing season.”
The mean yield of fruits that were harvested from a wigwam of four plants was 1.8kg. This yield was achieved by the plants producing a large quantity of small fruits, with most sites producing an average of 142 fruits.
Interestingly, there were a number of locations in Scotland that produced high yields, suggesting this is a crop well adapted to growing under UK conditions and can produce fruits even in a cold, wet summer.
Taste testing our achocha 🔗
Overall, our research suggested that achocha was easy to grow (74% of participants), very productive (60% ), with good slug resistance and the ability to produce a yield as far North as Glasgow in an exceedingly difficult growing season. However, there were mixed opinions on the taste.
Only 44% of participants said they enjoyed eating them, 32% were neutral, and 25% expressed dislike. Up to 42% agreed that they could make a good substitute for pepper, but far fewer (25%) agreed they would make a good substitute for cucumber.
“When small they taste of cucumbers, “ said one participant. “And as they age, slightly like fluffy green peppers.”
Members reported that they preferred the stir-fried flavour of their achocha fruits over the raw flavour. Up to 41% rated the raw fruits as “pleasant” or “very pleasant”, but this rose to 55% once they were stir fried. The flavour also changed as the fruits aged.
We would recommend that while the younger smaller fruits could be eaten raw, like a cucumber with both the outer shell and inner flesh eaten. But, once the fruits become larger and the seeds woody, it’s best to let them continue developing. Once the white flesh dries out and the seeds fall out easily, they can be stir-fried and eaten like a pepper.
New crops can be an acquired taste when we’ve been so used to the same flavours and textures for decades. If people were introduced to courgettes as a new crop this year, having never tasted them, we might face a similar reaction. It will be interesting to see, given achocha’s obvious benefits, if the opinion of UK gardeners towards this crop changes in the next few years.
Do you have a cooking tip or recipe for achocha that you’d like to share? Email us at [email protected]
References 🔗
1. Chomicki, G., Schaefer, H. & Renner, S. S. Origin and domestication of Cucurbitaceae crops: insights from phylogenies, genomics and archaeology. New Phytol. 226, 1240–1255 (2020).
2. Council, N. R., Affairs, P. and G., Development, B. on S. and T. for I. & Innovation, A. H. P. of the A. C. on T. Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation. (National Academies Press, 1989).
3. Wong, J. Acocha, courgette’s cute little cousin. The Guardian (2017).
4. Rivas, M. et al. Nutritional, Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of <i>Cyclanthera pedata</i>, an Andinean Fruit and Products Derived from Them. Food Nutr. Sci. 04, 55–61 (2013).