The nutritive value of snake gourd is unbeatable compared to other vegetables, it comprises of protein, fat, carbohydrate and soluble fiber, its mineral and vitamin content are calcium, phosphorous, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin and carotene.

The use of snake gourd in alternative medicine is increasing because of its curative properties – snake gourd acts as an excellent anti-inflammatory.

Snake gourd is gaining popularity for being an integral part of the anti-inflammatory diet chart – inflammation if left ignored can result in serious illnesses like, diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, cancer, mood disorders, sleep disorders, arthritis and Alzheimer’s.

Snake gourd has fresh flavour, is slight crunchy and juicy in texture because of these reasons while cooking snake gourd least number of ingredients are required, I add freshly minced coconut meat into it with couple of other fresh ingredients.

Snake gourd is narrow, twisted, elongated vegetable, can reach up to 150 cm (59 in) in length; is found in the wild across much of South and Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar(Burma) and southern China (Guangxi and Yunnan). It is also regarded as native in northern Australia and naturalized in Florida, parts of Africa and on various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

While cooking snake gourd, the green meaty part of the vegetable is used, cleaning the vegetable’s pulp and white surface, slicing the vegetable into small squares.

[Ref. medindia.net & Wikipedia]