How to choose fresh and tender loofah? The most common loofah on the market can be divided into two types: linear loofah and fat loofah. The line loofah is thin and long. When buying it, you should choose a melon with a straight shape, a moderate size, no wrinkles on the surface, tender and full water, and a green skin color. It is better not to wither or hurt people. Fat loofah is relatively short, with roughly the same thickness at both ends. When buying it, it should be fresh in skin color, moderate in size, with fine wrinkles on the surface and a layer of white velvet, which is better without trauma.
Look at the loofah with good appearance, first of all, it should be uniform in thickness, and don't choose loofah with uneven melon shape and protrusions. If the melon strips are symmetrical and the white hairs on the melon body are complete, it means that the melon is tender and fresh. Don't buy a melon with a big belly, there are many seeds in it. Hook melons are difficult to peel, even if they are cheap. Then, touch the skin of the loofah, and choose something with a tender skin, not too thick, otherwise the loofah is likely to be old and have many seeds.
Pinch it with your hand. Pinch it with your hand. It's strong. It's fresh. If it's soft and crumbly, it's been there for a long time. However, you can't buy a towel gourd that is too hard, because it may be bitter.
Look at the skin color. When buying loofah, you should choose fresh, green, firm and bright color. Those with light green skin color have a fuller pulp top and no bloated feeling. If the skin is yellow or the skin is wrinkled, or the melon is swollen with spots and depressions locally, the melon is too ripe to eat. Generally speaking, if the skin of loofah is dark, not green and thick, it is old. Among a pile of loofah, the old loofah is quite light in color and a little gray and dull, while the tender loofah is just the opposite, with the green color of early summer, the edges and corners are not hard enough, easy to break, and the skin is still very shiny.
Pick up a loofah by hand, you can grab one end and shake it up and down twice. At this time, the other end will easily feel sinking, that is to say, the other end will feel bent down, and it will be easy to break. You can also grab the middle and shake it up and down twice, feeling that it is tender to sink at both ends. If the loofah in your hand is hard or motionless like a stick, you'd better take another one. In short, I feel that the whole melon should be elastic.
Pinch the towel gourd gently with your nails. If you don't make any noise, you can easily pinch it in. It's quite fresh and tender, but when your nails are pinched in, you will make a slight "jump" and then you can pinch it in, and there is still some resistance in the middle. That's the old melon.
Look at the melon vine. Look at the melon vine of the loofah. The melon vine has a lot of fresh water and is a fresh loofah that has just been picked. If the melon wilts and dries flat, it is a loofah that has been put for a while, and it is not very fresh.
Taste it with your mouth. If the boss who sells loofah agrees, you can break off the head of loofah and put it in your mouth to taste it. You will know whether it is bitter or not.
What else can the old loofah do for food-1,lactation
Luffa sponge is a Chinese herbal medicine, which is made by picking it after it is ripe, yellow and dry, removing the skin, pulp and seeds, washing it and drying it in the sun.
Loofah is mostly long prismatic or long cylindrical, which is interwoven with filaments. Luffa is sweet in taste and cold in nature. It has the functions of dredging meridians, cooling blood and detoxifying, and can treat qi and blood stagnation, meridian obstruction and other diseases.
If breast inflammation occurs, there is a lump when milk is delivered, and milk secretion is not smooth, Chinese medicine will suggest that loofah sponge be stewed in broth, which can play the role of regulating breast qi and blood, promoting lactation and appetizing and resolving phlegm.
2. Regulate qi and blood
If breast inflammation occurs, there is a lump when milk is delivered, and milk secretion is not smooth, Chinese medicine will suggest that loofah sponge be stewed in broth, which can play the role of regulating breast qi and blood, promoting lactation and appetizing and resolving phlegm.
3. Relieve gout
One of the most widely used medicinal methods of loofah is to relieve gout. Take 50g loofah sponge, add appropriate amount of onion and clear water, and decoct with strong fire for10 ~15min. Finally, add 5g of green tea, soak until the tea tastes delicious, and drink it while it is hot. Drink 2~3 times a day.
4. Improve irregular menstruation
Loofah boiled water also has a good effect on women's irregular menstruation. Dry the loofah seeds, add water 1 bowl, decoct, add a small amount of brown sugar after boiling, and warm with yellow wine. Every morning and evening 1 time, which is effective in regulating irregular menstruation.
5, cough and phlegm
Old people cough a lot of phlegm, so you can try loofah sponge, orange sponge and platycodon grandiflorum each15g. Grinding and mixing, and making honey into pills. 6 grams each time, twice a day, with warm water.
6. Relieve chronic low back pain
Patients with chronic low back pain can chop loofah into pieces, bake it to brown, grind it into powder, take it twice a day 1 piece, and add a little yellow wine to take it, which can be used to relieve pain. Luffa can be bought in general Chinese medicine shops, which is very cheap.
Usage —— 1. Planting flowers
In rural areas, many farmers who like to grow flowers like to raise many kinds of flowers in their own yards. These flowers can not only decorate your house, but also purify the air. When they bloom in summer, you can smell the fragrance of the whole courtyard. For loofah, you can use the pulp of silk melon and put it in a flowerpot with the soil. After a long time, the soil will become looser. Moreover, it is important to note that the pulp of silk melon will be slowly decomposed and become fertilizer for flowers, so that flowers will be more vigorous.
2. In addition to odor and moisture.
When it rains, many people feel that the clothes in their wardrobes are beginning to get moldy and even have an unpleasant smell. We can use silk pulp, put some fragrant things in it, and then put it in the wardrobe to dehumidify and deodorize.
3. As a bath ball, wash your face.
Many people use bath balls when taking a bath, and they also use a face-washing robot when washing their faces. These tools are not cheap, and it costs a lot of money to buy them. For rural areas, the income is not high, and they are unwilling to spend money on these things. At this time, it can be replaced by silk pulp, and the water absorption and mud rubbing effect are better than those bought.
4. Insole
Because towel gourd has a good water absorption effect, it can be used to replace insoles. Covering is very useful for those sweaty feet and can play a role in absorbing moisture and deodorizing.
Nutritional value of towel gourd 1, anti-scurvy: the content of vitamin C in towel gourd is high, which can be used to resist scurvy and prevent various vitamin C deficiency;
2, brain beauty: due to the high content of vitamin B in loofah, it is beneficial to the brain development of children and the brain health of middle-aged and elderly people; The juice of the stem of Luffa has the special function of keeping skin elastic and can beautify and wrinkle;
3. Anti-virus and anti-allergy: The extract of Luffa has obvious preventive effect on Japanese encephalitis virus, and a kind of anti-allergic substance, Xiegen Alkyd, is also extracted from the tissue culture solution of Luffa, which has strong anti-allergic effect.