Promoting Bottle Gourdy Candy (Lagenaria siceraria)

As a Winter Melon (Benincasa hispida) Substitute in Making Local Candies

A Product Innovation Presented to the

College Department of

Bulacan State University (Bustos Campus) in Partial Fulfillment of

the Requirement in Food Processing, Packaging and Labeling

Presented By:

Michaela M. Ong

Bachelor of Technical Vocational

Teacher Education Major in Food and Service Management -

1H

April 2021
Introduction

In the Philippines, bottle gourds or upo will never leave the table. It maybe served for

breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even miryendas. During the pandemic, it is enjoyed being sauteed with

onions, garlic and sardines, or with minced pork, or basically season it with salt and pepper. Just

like any other vegetables, our perspective about “upo” is just that it is nutritious. Without knowing

that aside from that, bottle gourd has a lot more to offer.

According to Anushika Srivastava of 2019, bottle gourd has always been touted as the

healthiest vegetable. It is rightly said that it is the healthiest vegetable because it has sedative, anti-

inflammatory, and nutrient-dense properties. It's low in saturated fat, which helps lower bad

cholesterol levels, and, most importantly, it's packed with water, making it an ideal choice for

summer. Aside from being a water-based vegetable, bottle gourds also helps in weight loss,

facilitates liver health, reduces the risk for several types of cancer and is good for diabetes.

This is why the researcher came up with an idea which helps to produce a local product that

can be stored for a long time and on top of that, it is a product that could give out benefits to the

health of its consumers.

The researcher decided to use bottle gourd or upo as a substitute for winter melon or

Kundol for bottle gourds are more accessible, convenient and loaded with nutrients. These are the

qualities that we should look for during these trying times of the pandemic.
 Objectives

The goal of this research is to:

General Objective:

Use bottle gourd (upo) to substitute winter melon (kundol) in making local candies.

Specific Objectives:

 Innovate a new product - this would serve as a challenge to the local market to cater new

products that would excite the consumers interest.

 Prolong product’s shelf life - this would help the product to maintain its best quality in terms

of flavor, taste and texture for a long time.

 Satisfy the customers - this would enable the customers to achieve satisfaction and lead them

to purchasing more of the product.

 Produce from local, raw materials - this would give an opportunity to local farmers, producers

and workers to become a part of a new rising production.

 Expand to international trade - this would be a step on presenting a world class product that

would lead to earning dollar.

 Methodology

Materials:

• 1 kg Bottle Gourd (Upo)

• 750 gms white Sugar

• 1 tsp Alum powder (tawas)

• 1 tbsp Lemon juice

Procedure:

1. Cut bottle gourd into half, remove skin and seeds

2. Cut into pieces of desired size.

3. Prick them with a fork or any other pointed stick.

4. Place upo pieces in a large pan

5. Pour sufficient water so as to just cover the pieces.

6. Add alum powder and boil for about ten to fifteen minutes.

7. Remove from heat, drain and wash thoroughly under running water.

8. Combine sugar with one cup of water and heat till sugar dissolves.

9. Add lemon juice to remove scum, if any.

10. Reduce heat to medium and add boiled upo pieces

11. Continue cooking till upo get softened and sugar syrup is of three-thread consistency.

12. Remove from heat, remove upo piece by piece. Keep the pieces separate from each other, to
avoid sticking together. Roll it in sugar.

13. Serve when cool.

Documentation: