Ulysses Patola
Darios Uclaray
i always see those red patola like thing everywhere here at laguna. when i was a kid, i often play with those. but still, i dont know what are those hahah. but im sure its not melothria pendula, it has smaller fruit than those, and its black and taste like cucumber and i tried it before when an uplander told me before that its edible and its good, i guess.
I've always been fascinated by those bright red dangling fruits I see around the campus so I researched as much as I could. I believe it's Coccinia grandis or scarlet gourd/ ivy gourd. The Philippines seem to be part of its native range, though it's originally from Africa ( ). I also read that the green fruit is commonly eaten in India as well as in other Asian countries. I had to try it! I picked some from along Katipunan since the ones near Coop were rather high but I only got the red mature ones. They were already mushy and bland, like the way patola and pipino taste I guess.
BTW, I appreciate your blog a lot. I keep coming back to it though I noticed your last entry was in 2017. Hope to see more posts in the future since they're so informative.