From: jtrimble@sdf.lonestar.org (John Trimble)
Subject: Re: Luffa squash (sponge)
Organization: Best lil' ol' Pubnix in Texas
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 20:49:48 GMT

     I, also, have grown luffas for the first time this year. 
Through my own experimentation I have determined that the mature 
luffas get a little shrivelled around the bottom, where the 
blossom has fallen off. I have a plant growing in a friend's 
garden (he gets more sun) and the skins on his turned yellow. As 
far as drying the things out, I started off using the advise of a 
book from my library (I landed up copying it--it's out of print) 
Grow Your Own Chinese Vegetables, by Geri Harrington 1978, 
McMillan:
"Once you have harvested all the young fruit you want to eat, let 
the remaining gourds mature to full growth, then remove and put in 
hot water. You don't have to keep the water hot, but change it 
daily. When the outside skin starts to rot away, remove it and you 
will find that the inside is a spongy fibrous mass. Dry the 
individual gourds in the sun, and eureka!- you will have a 
vegetable sponge."
According to the same source, the gourds vary in length:"The 
longer variety can grow over 24 inches long and weigh up to 5 
pounds; the smaller variety usually grows a maximum of 12 inches."

     OK, now what I can personally attest to. My luffas are varied 
in sizes: the ones in my friends' garden only got to be about a 
foot long before the skins turned yellow. I think it was because 
they didn't get as much water as mine did. My gourds got to be 
almost twice that size, and when I picked them, the skins were 
still green. The first fruit I picked, I followed the instructions 
faithfully, and landed up with a really smelly, slimy mess with 
nary a discernable "fibrous mass" to it at all--maybe it was just 
my variety. I waited for a while to do it again, and then landed 
up peeling it by hand. I first cut off the flower end and found 
that there were some natural "pull tabs", strings that went the 
length of the gourd. I grasped each one firmly, and one by one 
pulled it all the way up to the stem, which once this is done, 
twists off pretty readily. The strings ripped the skins lengthwise 
along the gourd. I then peeled the luffa like a very stubborn 
orange, mostly using my thumbs and fingernails (which got very 
beat up in the process). I found that if you let them soak an hour 
or so (after cutting the end off), the skins separate from the 
sponge a little more. I'd still reccomend only cutting one luffa 
at a time, it's pretty tiring work for the old thumbs.
     Also, the seeds come out easier if you soak the luffas. If 
you dry the sponge with the seeds in it, you have to shake them 
like crazy. If, while peeling them, you let the water run in and 
pour it out, as if the loofa were a jar, the seeds come out with 
the water, especially if you squeeze, twist, and "spank" the 
luffa. Once it has all the seeds out and the skin off (and if you 
find an easier way, or a tool to use that won't damage the sponge, 
please let me know!!!), I set them on top of my holly bush in full 
sunlight. In our hot summer Texas sun, it took about two days to 
completely dry.      
     One thing I noticed, and let me know if you 
observe this, too, was that a few of my sponges were discolored--
just in a couple of spots. This was particularly the case if I set 
one down on concrete while I was peeling it (I think?) and much 
less when I just peeled them in a tub of water (by the way, the 
seeds float---the skins sink---makes for easy cleanup). If you 
notice what causes the discoloration- and it's not really 
noticeable, just a little darker brown in some spots- let me know 
this too.  This is the reason I dried the remaining luffas on top 
of my holly bush instead of setting them on my sidewalk.    
     I plan to use the gazillions of seeds I got out of 
my sponges to plant next year. I don't know if they're viable, but 
Hey, it's worth a try!

(In the chinese vegetable book, they're called Cee Gwa, Chinese 
okra--did you know the immature fruits are edible? You peel them 
and they're a lot like squash. I didn't really care for the taste 
myself- and I used it in stews, stir fried, and deep fried, just 
to give it a chance- but my husband seemed to like it OK. Well, at 
least that'll be a few I won't have to peel!)
Good luck!
Phyllis
jtrimble@sdf.lonestar.org
Newsgroups: rec.gardens