One of the native vegetable species that we were shown at the MMSU is the Sogod-sogod. botanically known as Momordica cochincinensis. It surely is a relative of Momordica charantia, our favorite ampalaya. And what came to mind is that it must be a very good rootstock for ampalaya so the grafted ampalaya will have a longer productive life.

The young fruits are cooked the same way gourd or ‘upo’ is cooked. Its tender shoots can be a substitute for ampalaya tops when cooking mungo. The tender shoots could also be blanched and made into salad.

The mature orange fruits with soft spines are very colorful in their different stages of ripeness. We are almost sure that floral and fruit arrangers would love to use the fruits in their arrangements. The fruit is something novel that decorators would love to use.

In Thailand and Vietnam, farmers grow the Sogod-sogod commercially. We met a magazine publisher who is also a farmer when we were invited to attend a seminar in Singapore. The fellow showed us his plantation full of those colorful fruits in different stages of ripening. He said he got his superior variety from Vietnam.