Parwal Calories & Nutrition Calculator

Parwal delivers 2.0g protein per 100g — the highest among commonly consumed gourds: bitter gourd has 1.0g, ridge gourd 1.2g, tinda 1.4g, and snake gourd 0.5g. Combined with 3.0g dietary fiber per 100g (matching bitter gourd's 2.8g and exceeding ridge gourd's 1.6g), parwal has the most nutritionally dense macronutrient profile in the gourd family, all at just 20 kcal ^[1].

The protein-to-calorie ratio of 0.1g protein per calorie places parwal alongside spinach (0.13g/kcal) and broccoli (0.08g/kcal) in efficiency — remarkable for a mild-flavored gourd that most people consider nutritionally inconsequential. Six medium parwal (180g) provide 3.6g protein and 5.4g fiber for just 36 kcal.

For food journaling, parwal deserves recognition as a nutritionally above-average gourd. If choosing between gourds for a sabzi, parwal provides more protein, fiber, and iron per calorie than bottle gourd, ash gourd, or snake gourd. Log it accordingly — it's not just filler.

Raw parwal has 1.7mg iron per 100g — 9% of the 18mg daily value — which is notably high for a gourd vegetable. Comparison: bitter gourd has 0.43mg, tinda 0.9mg, ridge gourd 0.36mg, and bottle gourd 0.2mg. Parwal's iron content is comparable to cooked spinach (3.6mg/100g raw, but spinach reduces to ~180mg per 100g cooked weight due to volume change) ^[1].

Six medium parwal (180g) provide 3.1mg iron — 17% of the daily value — for just 36 kcal. Since parwal is typically cooked with oil and tomatoes (both of which provide vitamin C that supports non-heme iron absorption), the iron in a typical parwal sabzi may be better absorbed than the iron from many other plant sources.

For nutrition journaling, parwal is a meaningful iron source among vegetables. If tracking iron intake (particularly important for vegetarian diets), parwal's 1.7mg/100g is worth noting alongside spinach and amaranth leaves as a plant-based iron contributor.

Like its botanical cousin snake gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina), parwal (Trichosanthes dioica) has 2,240mcg beta-carotene per 100g, yielding approximately 187mcg vitamin A (RAE) — 21% of the daily value. This places both Trichosanthes species far above other gourds for provitamin A: bottle gourd has 0mcg, ash gourd 0mcg, and even bitter gourd has only 24mcg RAE ^[1][2].

The carotenoid richness is concentrated in parwal's green skin. Peeling parwal before cooking removes a significant portion of the beta-carotene (and fiber). In most Indian preparations, parwal is cooked with skin intact — preserving the full vitamin A and fiber content.

For food journaling, parwal is one of the few gourds that meaningfully contributes to daily vitamin A intake. Six parwal (180g) provide 337mcg vitamin A — 37% of the daily value. If carotenoid diversity matters in your diet, parwal provides provitamin A from a different food source than the typical carrots-and-pumpkin-heavy approach.

Plain boiled parwal: ~18 kcal/100g. Aloo-parwal sabzi (Bihar/Bengal specialty with potato): 120–160 kcal per serving (potato adds 77 kcal/100g, oil adds 120 kcal/tbsp). Bharwa parwal (stuffed with masala or paneer): 150–250 kcal per serving depending on stuffing. Parwal ki mithai (sweetened with sugar, stuffed with khoya/mawa): 300–400 kcal per serving — a 15–20x calorie multiplication from the plain gourd ^[1].

Parwal ki mithai is a traditional Bengali and Bihari festival sweet where hollowed parwal is stuffed with sweetened khoya (reduced milk solids) and sugar-syrup soaked. The parwal shell (30g = 6 kcal) becomes a vessel for 80–100 kcal of khoya and sugar — the gourd is structurally useful but calorically negligible in the final dessert.

For food journaling, aloo-parwal sabzi is the most common daily preparation — track the potato and oil alongside the parwal. For bharwa parwal, track the stuffing separately. For parwal ki mithai, treat it as a sweet, not a vegetable — the sugar and khoya define its calorie profile.

USDA FoodData Central has no entry for pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica), making parwal invisible in most global nutrition databases and calorie-tracking apps. All nutritional data comes from Indian Food Composition Tables (Gopalan et al., IFCT 2017) — which means parwal's impressive 2g protein, 3g fiber, and 1.7mg iron per 100g are absent from apps like MyFitnessPal's standard database ^[1][3].

This data gap means millions of parwal consumers in Bihar, Bengal, UP, and Jharkhand — where parwal is a staple vegetable — cannot accurately log their nutrition. For this calculator, we use the Gopalan et al. / NIN data that has been the standard Indian food composition reference for decades, supplemented with cooked estimates using nutrient retention factors.

For nutrition journaling, use this calculator's values rather than app defaults (which may show 0 or use generic estimates). The key figures to remember: 20 kcal, 2g protein, 3g fiber, 1.7mg iron per 100g raw parwal.