ANGLED LOOFAH

My husband is the vegetable gardening enthusiast.  I am more for the flowers and decorative plants.  One of the vegetables he is growing at the moment is the angled loofah (also known as Luffa acutangula, Angled Luffa, Ridged Luffa, Vegetable Gourd).  

This is quite an easy vegetable to cultivate.  It grows fast and bears fruit within 3 weeks of having climbed up the trellis.  It develops many branches in the course of its life, so that means lots of fruuit!

From Dr Ong Hean Chooi's book on Vegetables (Utusan Pubications,2003), it is said to contain iron, phosporus, calcium, vitamin A,B, niacin and vitamin C.

The young leaves, flowers and shoots can be eaten - fried, curried or as part of soup.  The loofah has to be eaten while still young as the older it gets, the more bitter it becomes, as well as causing diarrhoe.  

For herbal uses:

The seeds are used to induce vomitting, and the leaves can be used eleviate skin problems.


HOW TO COOK ANGLED LOOFAH IN 5 MINUTES

This is our home-grown angled loofah.

The skinned loofah

Cut it any which way you like. This vegetable is so versatile that you can add whatever you feel like  adding - it's that friendly.  Cook it with chicken meat, beef, prawns (fresh or dried) or tofu.  It actually changes taste with each different accompaniment.I'm cooking mine with an egg plus onions, garlic and red chillies. So simple, so fast and yet so tasty!

Ready to stir fry.

Spices and eggs done

Loofah joins the party!

... and we're done in 5!  Ready for a yummy meal!

OUR FUNNY PAPAYA TREES

Some of our papaya trees grow rather peculiarly ~

This one has to be supported because it's too heavily laden.

                                             1)

                               
                                            2)

These two grow at the corner and side of brick work!

Ever seen papaya like these?

 These are conisidered 'male' papaya trees and will not bear fruit, only flowers.  These are eaten as vegetables but beware, they are very bitter, and must be cooked in a special way.

Last but not least, don't give up on your dying papaya tree!

Our papaya tree was on the verge of dying.  We lobbed off the top and it sprouted so many branches we had to remove some.  See? We have more papaya fruit!

Update on the DRAGON FRUIT

I got pictures of the Dragon Fruit in bloom!

Note: The white flowers will wilt and drop off, leaving the base which will develop into the Dragon Fruit.

TRUMPET FLOWERS (?)

When I first saw these blooms at somebody's garden, I was captivated by them. They were larger than any flowers I had ever seen, and the owner told me that they were called 'trumpet flowers'.  Indeed, they looked like trumpets because of their shape.  I asked for cuttings in exchange for my own plants, but unfortunately they did not grow.  Fortunately however, my friend's did and I am now a proud owner of a blooming pot of trumpet flowers.  I may have to move them out of the pot soon, and plant them in the garden.  They seem to love the sun.

I have looked up pictures of trumpet flowers on the internet, but I have not seen any pictures that are similar to these, so maybe they're not the real trumpet flowers.   Here are pictures that I took today.  

PS.  I discovered that they turn more yellow with each passing day, and each bloom lasts more than a week!