Green Cleaning Gourds: Removing the Skin for Smooth Color and Texture

The normal procedure of cleaning gourds is normally a process of waiting for the gourds to dry then trying to clean the hardened skin off the dry and hardened gourds. This is a difficult project until you learn some tips, but it can still be difficult at best. Green cleaning gourds is a process of cleaning the skin off the gourds before they dry, in fact while they are still green, hence the name.

Even when gourds are still green, although the shell has not dried out to a tan color and a wooden texture, the shell is still very hard. Removal of the skin during this stage of the gourds growth is difficult, but yet in some ways it is easier than waiting for the gourd to dry out then cleaning the skin off. Green cleaning is done by using a sharp or semi sharp edge of metal and scraping the skin off. My two favorite methods are, 1) holding a sharp blade at a steep angle and shaving the skin off, and 2), probably the best and safest method, is using the back side of a table knife to scrape the skin off.

Once the majority of the skin is removed, use a copper Chore-boy, and while under running water, scrub the surface to remove any remaining rice paper thin remnants of skin. Thin layers of skin remaining on the gourd will cause a difference in drying uniformity and will leave color marks. DO NOT USE steel wool. The gourd is not yet dry, and our discovery of using steel wool is that it leaves microscopic pigments of steel embedded in the gourd shell and the moisture in the gourd will cause rust, and this will discolor your gourd to a reddish color. This is OK if this is your desired end result, but if you are a pyrographer, you probably want the light color skin.

Green cleaning does not work on all gourds. Large gourds will dry too quickly and the shell will pucker in and crack. Long skinny gourds do not have the strength attributed to the egg shape or spherical shape will in most cases pucker and crack as well. Our experience is 11 pound bottle gourds or smaller, the larger ones closer to 11 pounds must have thick shells. You will probably lose some even of smaller gourds. we have also successfully green cleaned egg gourds which are actually cucurbits, and Tennessee Spinners which are also cucurbits.

Gourds are an artistic medium. If you would like to learn more about gourds, please visit The Gourd Reserve, with over 800 pages of gourd related information and artwork. You can also find more short articles on gourds and growing gourds here on my AC producer page.