How to dry an apple gourd

This is perhaps an odd time of year to write about gourds, but bear with me, you'll see why. We grow too many gourds, but what's not to like about all the crazy shapes and sizes, multitude of colours, and textures? Most gourds are simply used to decorate your homes for the autumn harvest celebration, and probably get thrown in the compost when it is time to put up the Christmas decorations. Some of those gourds will have started to pass to the other shore, I know I've found my share with a puddle underneath where they are sitting, these are the ones you're sometimes afraid to lift up!

"Apple Gourds"  have a much longer life span.  They start off looking like a big apple, with their mottled dark green and light green skin, they even have a cute little stem on top. We've had one decorating our kitchen counter for three months now, and until recently it looked great, and its colour even matched our Christmas decorations.

As you can see from the photo, it is now time to banish it elsewhere. It is covered in white mold, which will soon turn black. If you saw any other vegetable covered with this mold, you would throw it out. With apple gourds (or any other of the "bottle" gourds), I'm don't have to do that. I don't want all those spores in my house, so I could wash it, but the mold would come back quickly.

I'm going to let that gourd dry out all by itself, covered in mold, in my garage. I'll post an update in a few months.