Luffa Gourds From the Garden

In the very back of the garden, luffa gourds come up every year volunteer from seeds.  That's one thing about luffas - they produce a LOT of seeds.  They grow and vine all over, climbing on top of the sugar cane and blooming their glorious yellow flowers that attract the bees.  Finally they produce gourds.  I let them mature and turn brown.

Then I peel the outer skin off of them leaving the fibrous sponge exposed.  If you shake it, a multitude of black seeds come out.  I scatter them all over the back of the garden where we'll rinse, wash, and repeat this whole thing again next year.

There's one more step before the gourds are ready to use.  I put about a cup of bleach into a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water.  I'll soak the luffas overnight in the bleachy-water solution and they come out nice and clean.

These are great to use in the shower as a body sponge with soap.  The luffas exfoliate the skin.  It can be used again and again.  Every once in a while you can put it back in some bleachy water to freshen it up.  We've got so many of these now left over from last year and more this year.  I think we'll start giving one away with every jar of honey purchased.  It'll be a little lagniappe!