Opo Flower

This beautiful flowering plant has taken over our garden. This virginal bloom is from the opo, a member of the squash family. As you can see, if you've been around squash long enough, that this is a female flower. How can you tell? You can tell this is female because of the fruit already starting to form at the bottom. Look again... see it now?

This fruit can grow to over 3 feet, depending on the variety and can weigh anywhere from 3-5 pounds. It doesn't really have a whole lot of flavor, it's quite mild; it holds an enormous amount of water so any dish you put this into can get pretty soupy. The texture, when cooked is very similar to zucchini.

Normally, I buy one of these squashes a couple of times a year when I see them fresh at the Asian market and I have a craving for them. This time around though, from just 1 plant we've gotten three huge ones and there are four more plants coming up and getting ready to fruit! I've given away all I can, but now I've got to start cooking them.