What do you do with a loofah?

My Sister has a loofah trailing all round the back of her house in Chesapeake Virginia. It is a member of the curcurbit family and the vines are self clinging - winding its way up the back of the house and all over the balcony. You can eat the little ones as a veggie, but if they grow up to be bath sized... You are supposed to wait until they turn yellow then leave them immersed in a bucket of water till all the flesh drops off and you are left with the scratchy thing for your back.

They have only started producing fruit in the last 3 weeks though, the climate is similar to over here but at a lower latitude, so is much brighter. Plants like this fruit when the day and night length is equal. Over here it would be too cold. Posted by Picasa