Soaking the gourd the second time accomplishes 2 things, one it reduces the odor the second time around, and it also creates additional rotting for anything that may have been left behind. After rinsing them off from the second rotting, place them back into the bucket, fill it with water, and soak again, this time for a week, dump it and fill it again for another week. This will remove almost all the smell entirely.

Once removed from the bucket, allow the gourd to dry, rotate the gourd, from right side up to up side down for the first few days to prevent water spotting from water settling in one spot on the gourd. If it is odor free, you can place it in the oven to dry.

If you do not do the additional rotting, and only soak the gourd once, it will take months for the odor to leave the gourd, but by using the repeated process, your gourd will be beautiful, and the odor will be gone when it dries.

This sounds like a lot of work, but in reality, the work is not as hard as the scraping and sanding one would normally do. The time required to rinse a gourd each time is only a minute or two, and the water does all the dirty work. It is also absolutely dust free and mold free, which is good for your health and your lungs will love you for it, and the end result is a beautiful gourd.

Up until now, we have explained the cleaning techniques that have been used by people and cultures from around the world, but now we would like to introduce something new, or at least, we’ve not heard of it being done before.