For Luffa or Money

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To make the dinnertime treat, cut 2 sixinch gourds lengthwise, scoop out their middles, and parboil or steam the shells for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, chop and lightly sauté 1 clove of garlic, 1 onion, and 1/4 pound of mushrooms. Add 2 cups of cooked rice, 1/4 cup of pecans, and some crumbled cooked bacon (optional) to the mixture. Then, season the filling with thyme and tarragon, stuff it into the luffa cavities, sprinkle Parmesan cheese and wheat germ over the top, and bake the "boats" for 25 to 30 minutes at 350°F. Mmmmm!

In Japan (which is the world's biggest supplier of luffa) the fruit is sliced and dried in the sun like apples. In India the gourds are popular in curries, while Malayans relish the young leaves raw, and the Annamese people of China like to eat the male flowers and flower buds. (The blooms can be dipped in batter and sautéed as you would nasturtium or day lily blossoms.)

ORGANIC BACK-SCRUBBERS

If it's sponges you're after, though, don't pick the luffa gourds until they've reached the length you want (a maximum of two feet). Once they attain "full size", you'll have two processing alternatives. The lazy method is to leave the fruit to dry, either on the vine or off. When it has turned to a tan or brown and is light in weight, you can easily chip away the brittle outer skin with your fingernails ... or, better still, soak the dried fruit in water for a few days, and its covering will burst open and peel off with even less effort. (Be sure to shake out the seeds and save them for the next season, because once you've felt the stimulating massage of a luffa sponge, you'll never want to be without one.)

However, should your area's growing season turn out to be too short to enable the sponges to dry on the vine, and if you don't have room to let them "age" in your house, you can simmer green luffas until they're tender (or pressure-cook them for 10 minutes at 10 pounds' pressure). When the gourds have cooled, simply unzip the peelings by pulling the "strings" in the skins' ridges ... then swish the sponges around in a bucket of water to remove the seeds.

Some people immerse their dried and skinned scrubbers in a solution of one tablespoon of bleach per quart of water, because they want their dishcloth gourds to be snowy white. We like the natural golden color, however, and suspect that the bleaching may shorten the useful life of the sponge.

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