Giant Acocha

Cyclanthera pedata

Story: We originally sourced this seed from the wonderful Heritage Seed Library and have been growing it since 2019. This giant achocha grows much like a cucumber – it does better indoors and with support as they climb high. The crunchy fruits grow to the size of a small cucumber, but hollow with soft spikes. The fruits are traditionally eaten after removing the seeds and stuffing them. However, we found it enjoyable to eat raw as well. The seeds are also a really fun shape! They make an excellent addition to salads or can be cooked in stir-fries and curries.

Sow: indoors in April. 

Requirements: full sun, moist soil, warmth and humidity. 

Harvesting: for eating, pick fruits when young and firm. For seed harvesting, leave fruits on the vine until they have started to go soft. Each pod will be filled with hard black seeds. 

Saving seed: There aren't many varieties of achocha out there in the UK for them to cross pollinate. Only one one variety and that will solve all issues with possible cross pollination. Allow fruits to come to maturity and then cut them out, scoop out the black seeds (if they are not black, they are not ripe). Allow the seeds to dry out inside for a few days and then label, package and date.

Sending seed back: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact, if you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. A guideline amount of seed to send back to The Seed Saving Network is 1 tablespoon or more (about one cucumber fruit's worth). Send to: Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.Image courtesy of the Incredible Seed Library. 

Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 3 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just three packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.* 

*Community groups and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us if this is the case.

If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.