Last Saturday we officially entered the 40-day dog days. As the saying goes, “eat three melons during the three-future period, the cordyceps is not as good as it”, and the three melons refer to the winter melon, the bitter melon and the loofah. Today, let’s talk about the loofah!
The loofah is sweet and cool in nature, and belongs to the lung, liver, stomach, and large intestine meridians. It has the effects of clearing away heat and resolving phlegm, cooling blood and detoxifying. Embolism has a certain auxiliary effect.
From the perspective of modern nutrition, eating loofah has the following benefits:
Beauty: Loofah is known as “beauty melon”. It has a high water content and is also rich in B vitamins, vitamin C and other nutrients, which can add moisture to skin cells, relieve dry skin, maintain skin elasticity, and reduce the formation of fine lines and pigmentation.
Weight control: Loofah has a refreshing taste, and its smooth taste comes from polysaccharide, a soluble dietary fiber that helps promote intestinal peristalsis and accelerate the excretion of waste from the body. Moreover, the calorie of the loofah itself is relatively low, about 20kcal per hectogram, which is very suitable for people who lose weight and control fat.
Vascular protection: Loofah contains more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and other substances, which have a positive effect on protecting cardiovascular health. In addition, loofah also contains certain saponins, which are usually only found in Chinese medicinal materials such as ginseng and Panax notoginseng, which can help reduce the oxidative damage of free radicals to cardiovascular cells, protect the vascular endothelium, and strengthen the heart muscle.
Generally, what we see in the market are smooth loofahs without edges. When choosing this kind of loofah, there are 3 points to keep in mind.
1 light color
For loofah, the light green color is usually more tender, and the darker the color, the older the taste.
2Epidermal smoothing
The loofah with smooth skin and fine lines is relatively tender, while the loofah with prominent skin lines is older. If there are spots or breaks on the epidermis, it is even less suitable to buy.
3 strong and flexible
Choose a loofah with a well-proportioned upper and lower thickness, pick it up and gently pinch it with your hands. If it feels firm and slightly elastic, it means it is fresh; if it feels soft and fluffy, it may have been empty.
In fact, in addition to the loofah without edges, in the south, especially in Guangdong, there is also a loofah with edges.
Loftop gourd, also known as eight-sided gourd and Sheng gourd, as the name suggests, its surface has obvious edges and corners, and the outer skin is thicker than ordinary luffa. The water content of loofah with edges is less than that of loofah without edges, and the taste is firmer and chewier. It is suitable for cooking and soup.
When choosing edged loofah, we should also give priority to choosing the ones with uniform thickness, firm hand and slightly elastic. In addition, pay attention to whether the gap between the edges is relatively even. Usually, the gaps are similar, and the taste is relatively sweet; the gaps are greatly different, and the taste will be worse.
Appetizers and digestion
Practice: Blanch the bamboo shoots in advance; marinate the loofah strips with salt for 5 minutes, and then dry the water for later use. Take another frying pan, add bean paste, stir-fry until fragrant, add shredded bamboo shoots, shredded fungus, loofah strips, add fish-flavored juice made from vinegar, sugar, water, soy sauce and starch, stir fry evenly pot.
The taste of fish is sweet and sour, very appetizing and suitable for food in the day when the appetite is lost; bamboo shoots, fungus, and loofah are rich in dietary fiber, which can promote digestion, prevent constipation, and to a certain extent. Reduce the body’s absorption of fat in food.
Clearing away heat and relieving heat, loofah and edamame
Practice: boil the edamame in cold water; soak the sea rice in cooking wine to soften it, squeeze out the water, and cut it into pieces. Take the oil pan, add minced garlic and fry until discolored, add equal amount of minced ginger, twice the amount of chopped dried sea rice, and a little salt, sugar, pepper, oyster sauce, stir-fry evenly over low heat, and then drain.
Pour oil into the pot, put in the loofah pieces, add a little water and fry over high heat until it breaks, add the boiled edamame, dried shrimp paste, water starch, and sesame oil, stir fry until mature and ready to serve.
Edamame can be called a “treasure house of nutrition”. It is not only rich in vitamins and minerals, but also contains a lot of high-quality protein. The combination with loofah is not only delicious, delicious, and more comprehensive in nutrition. Eating such a dish in Futian can clear away heat and relieve heat, strengthen the spleen and invigorate the water.
Auxiliary control three high mulberry leaf loofah soup
Method: Take several pieces of fresh mulberry leaves, half a lotus leaf, and one loofah. After washing, cut the loofah into strips and tear the lotus leaf into small pieces. Pour 1000ml of water and lotus leaf into the pot and boil it. When 500ml of water is left, remove the lotus leaf, add fresh mulberry leaves and loofah, and then add an appropriate amount of salt and chicken essence to taste.
Mulberry leaves have the functions of dispersing wind-heat, clearing lungs and moistening dryness, clearing liver and improving eyesight. It also contains a variety of alkaloids, amino acids and other ingredients, which can help lower blood sugar, control fat, and regulate blood pressure; lotus leaves can clear summer and dampness , Strengthen the spleen and raise the yang, the flavonoids it contains also have the effect of assisting the regulation of the three highs.
The two, paired with loofah, can be eaten from hot and humid days all the way to dry and cold autumn.
Tips
Luffa is easy to oxidize and turn black when cooking. To solve this problem, you can:
①Remove the parts that are easily blackened such as the head and tail of the loofah, the skin of the loofah, and the flesh of the loofah;
②Blank the loofah and put it in cold water, or soak it in water with vinegar, but do not soak it in salt water, otherwise it will accelerate the loofah to turn black.
Actually, loofah also has the title of “fruit and medicinal herbs”, because it is really full of treasures~
Luffa tip
Luffa vine, which has the functions of relaxing tendons and promoting blood circulation, relieving cough and resolving phlegm, etc. Everyday, you can buy relatively tender loofah vines, blanch them and eat them cold.
Luffa flower
It has the functions of clearing away heat and detoxifying, relieving cough and relieving asthma. Take 10g loofah flowers, wash and dry, add boiling water, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, pour in an appropriate amount of honey and mix thoroughly before drinking. .
Luffa leaf
Take 6~15g of dry decoction to drink, it can help to dispel the summer heat and relieve the symptoms of polydipsia due to summer heat; mash it and apply it to the affected area to help reduce swelling and stop bleeding. traumatic bleeding, etc.
Luffa
The loofah, left behind when the loofah grows old, can not only be used to wash dishes, but also be used as medicine, which has the functions of expelling wind, dredging collaterals, and promoting blood circulation.
People with cough and phlegm can take 10g loofah and 10g orange, boil water for 5 minutes instead of tea;
People with nephritis and edema can take 10g loofah and 15g wax gourd rind, boil it for 5 minutes and drink it, it will help reduce swelling and diuresis.
Finally, I would like to remind everyone: loofah also belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. If you eat a bitter gourd, don’t think it can clear the fire, but it is poisonous, so throw it away!
(I am the official WeChat account of a big doctor)