I prefer at least two hours, and make sure the gourd is totally submerged to help reduce the risk of leaving a water line. Once it is fully water logged, the gourd will actually sink in the water. After boiling thoroughly, the white pulp on the inside will actually turn clear, or gelatin in appearance, and will scoop right off the inside with a normal teaspoon, and the greatest blessing in using this procedure is it is absolutely dust free. To prevent burns, you can run this gourd under cold water to cool it down, the insides will still scoop right out.

If you use this method for cleaning the inside of a gourd, you can place the gourd in the oven at a warm 175 degrees to dry it out faster, place the gourd upside down, (or the cut side down) to insure no puddling occurs in the bottom of the gourd.