Post by jenn on Oct 10, 2023 0:43:18 GMT
Who eats loofah squash? At what size and how do you prepare it?
I have a beautiful stand of loofah (since if it's spelled luffa I want to make it rhyme with huff ah instead of pooh bah) in the front yard. The summer squash and other winter squash in the same spot all succumbed to squash vine borer despite me trying to bury the vines in spots to have more than one root source of water etc. I expect to not want or need to grow loofah for sponges for another 20 years, unless I just want to repeat this year's beautiful imitation of yellow water lilies.
I am on a busy corner in town and last month a Chinese looking lady- not native English speaker so probably recent immigrant from somewhere- stopped and asked if she could have some to fry up. I was happy to share- I only harvest a few (the tiny ones taste like zucchini to me, too bad it isn't like cucumber) and had already fried a few 1-2" diameter ones with the yellow crookneck squash before that died. However she wanted the nearly full grown ones 3-4" diameter! I doubt I would want as many as she took- 20 or so!- since I don't like summer type squash enough to eat it stewed etc, only as a small side dish fried in lemon and pepper.
Anyway I'm wondering if I should give up the other types of squash and just go with this, though of course next year it will fail and the other ones won't. One thing I DO plan to try: shredding one for mixing in cake mixes like shredded zucchini. Will have to try making "zucchini" bread with varying sizes and decide if she's crazy or I am. (BTW she just texted asking for more, that would make her eating about one large one per day.)
I have a beautiful stand of loofah (since if it's spelled luffa I want to make it rhyme with huff ah instead of pooh bah) in the front yard. The summer squash and other winter squash in the same spot all succumbed to squash vine borer despite me trying to bury the vines in spots to have more than one root source of water etc. I expect to not want or need to grow loofah for sponges for another 20 years, unless I just want to repeat this year's beautiful imitation of yellow water lilies.
I am on a busy corner in town and last month a Chinese looking lady- not native English speaker so probably recent immigrant from somewhere- stopped and asked if she could have some to fry up. I was happy to share- I only harvest a few (the tiny ones taste like zucchini to me, too bad it isn't like cucumber) and had already fried a few 1-2" diameter ones with the yellow crookneck squash before that died. However she wanted the nearly full grown ones 3-4" diameter! I doubt I would want as many as she took- 20 or so!- since I don't like summer type squash enough to eat it stewed etc, only as a small side dish fried in lemon and pepper.
Anyway I'm wondering if I should give up the other types of squash and just go with this, though of course next year it will fail and the other ones won't. One thing I DO plan to try: shredding one for mixing in cake mixes like shredded zucchini. Will have to try making "zucchini" bread with varying sizes and decide if she's crazy or I am. (BTW she just texted asking for more, that would make her eating about one large one per day.)