Luffa is a genus of tropical and subtropical vines in the cucumber family. In everyday non-technical usage, the luffa, also spelled loofah, usually refers to the fruits of the species Luffa aegyptiaca and Luffa acutangula. It is cultivated and eaten as a vegetable, but must be harvested at a young stage of development to be edible. The vegetable is popular in India, China and Vietnam. When the fruit is fully ripened, it is very fibrous. The fully developed fruit is the source of the loofah scrubbing sponge which is used in bathrooms and kitchens. The name luffa was taken by European botanists in the 17th century from the Egyptian Arabic name لوف lūf.
Uses
Fibers
The fruit section of L. aegyptiaca may be allowed to mature and used as a bath or kitchen sponge after being processed to remove everything except the network of xylem fibers. If the loofah is allowed to fully ripen and then dried on the vine, the flesh disappears leaving only the fibrous skeleton and seeds, which can be easily shaken out. Marketed as luffa or loofah, the sponge is used as a body scrub in the shower. In Paraguay, panels are made out of luffa combined with other vegetable matter and recycled plastic. These can be used to create furniture and construct houses.
Food
In Vietnamese cuisine, the gourd is called "mướp hương" and is a common ingredient in soups and stir-fried dishes. In Hindi-speaking North Indian states, it is called torai, and cooked as vegetable. But in central/Western India, specially in Madhya Pradesh, it is called gilki. Torai is reserved for ridge gourd and is less popular than gilki in central western India. In Gujarat it is known as turia or turya as well as ghissori or ghissora in the Kutchi language. It is a simple but very popular vegetable usually made with a plentiful tomato gravy and garnished with green chillies and fresh coriander. When cooked roti is shredded by hand and mixed into it, it is colloquially known as "rotli shaak ma bhuseli". Alternatively this dish is also eaten mixed with plain cooked rice. In Bengali-speaking Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, it is known as jhinge and a popular vegetable. It is eaten fried or cooked with shrimp, fish, or meat. In Assam, it is called bhul and is cooked with sour fish curry along with taro. In Tamil Nadu, the gourd is called peerkangai and used as a vegetable to make peerkangai kootu, poriyal, and thogayal. Even the skin is used to make chutney. In Karnataka's Malenadu it is known as tuppadahirekayi, which literally translates as "buttersquash", also known as Hirekayi in Kannada. It grows naturally in this region and is consumed when it is still tender and green. It is used as a vegetable in curries, but also as a snack, bhajji, dipped in chickpea batter and deep fried. In Tulu language it is known as Peere and is used to prepare chutney and ajethna. In Telangana, it is called beerakaya. It is used in making Dal,Fry, Roti Pacchadi and wet curry. In Andhra Pradesh, it is called nethi beerakaya or beerakaya. And in Assam it is called jika and bhula. It is used as a vegetable in a curry, chutney and stir fry. In Kerala, it is called peechinga; in the Palakkad area it is particularly called poththanga and used in while bathing. It is also used as a vegetable, cooked with dal or stir fried. Fully matured fruit is used as a natural scrub in rural Kerala. In some places such as Wayanad, it grows as a creeper on fences. In Maharashtra, India, dodka and ghosavala are common vegetables prepared with either crushed dried peanuts or with beans. In Manipur, India, Sebot is cooked with other ingredients like potato, dried fish, fermented fish and served. It is also steamed and consumed or crushed with other ingredients and served with steamed rice. Fried ones are also favorites for many. In Japan, it is called hechima and is cultivated all over the country during summer. It is commonly used as a green vegetable in traditional dishes of the Nansei Islands and Kyushu while other regions of Japan grow it predominantly for use as a sponge or for applying soap, shampoo, and lotion. As with bitter melon, many people grow it outside building windows as a natural sunscreen in summer. In China and Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Philippines and Manipur, India, the luffa is eaten as a green vegetable in various dishes. It is also known as "Chinese okra" in Canada and the U.S. In Spanish, it is called an estropajo. Luffa species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Hypercompe albicornis.
