A HELPFUL METHOD: of cleaning the skin off
is to wait for your gourds to get light, but not entirely dry. If
the gourd still has some dampness to it, the skin removes much easier
than when the skin has fully dried on. However, the mold will still
be active and present on the gourd, so before handling the gourd,
pick it up by wrapping it with a wet towel or rag, or spray it down
to prevent mold spores from being spewed into the air around you.
Once you have the gourd prepared for moving in one of these methods,
submerge it entirely underwater, then you can begin scrubbing.
CAUTION: Larger gourds may not fare well if
you remove the skin before they are fully dry. This holds true not
only for cleaning before it is completely dry, but for green cleaning,
and boiling, which we will cover later in this booklet. We have had
large kettles which only weighed a couple pounds, (dried from their
original 11+ pounds when freshly picked),