You can cut it into strips by yourself and it comes with its own bowl. Many people have never seen this kind of "repaying gratitude" melon...

What kinds of melons are eaten in winter? Winter melon, pumpkin, cucumber, squash... Everyone can name them. But there is a kind of melon that not many people know about, but it is very strange, it is the golden sponge gourd.

This melon is very worry-free. You don't need to cut it yourself, it will become silk by itself. Even a kitchen novice can do it easily. In this article, we will talk about golden silk melon and learn how to eat this melon.

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The sensible golden loofah can "shred" itself

Golden loofah is also called stirring melon, golden melon, and noodle melon. It is actually a vegetable belonging to the pumpkin genus. Its consumption is relatively high in Chongming Island in Shanghai, Suining in Jiangsu, Guiyang in Guizhou, and Qingyang in Gansu.

The golden luffa originated in Mexico or Central and North America and belongs to the American pumpkin. According to records, golden luffa was cultivated on Chongming Island during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. The cultivation of golden luffa in other counties and cities did not begin until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. At that time, it was called pearl melon. At present, it is widely planted in Shanghai, my country and has a long history. It is also planted in Beijing, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places.

There are many varieties of golden sponge gourd in my country, such as Chongming golden pumpkin, vineless golden sponge gourd, Jiao melon (mainly produced in Hebei, Shandong, northern Jiangsu and other places), short vine Jiao melon, Hualian short vine golden sponge gourd, Baiqiu, Golden Princess, etc. Among them, Chongming golden pumpkin is the most popular, and many local varieties have evolved.

When the sponge gourd is steamed, frozen or salted, the flesh can be blended into golden or light yellow threads that look like vermicelli and potato shreds, which is very peculiar.

This is because in plants of the genus Cucurbita, the number of layers of thin-walled cells between the melon fibers can affect the separation of the fibers, and the amount of starch granules can affect the crispness and tenderness of the melon flesh.

The pumpkin we usually eat has many layers of thin-walled cells and many starch grains, which are easy to become mushy after cooking, so it is difficult to form threads. However, each thread of golden loofah is composed of a central vascular bundle and 3 to 5 layers of thin-walled cells around it. The threads are separated by narrow cells. The thin-walled cells connecting the threads age and disintegrate as the fruit matures, causing the threads to separate.

However, the influence of external conditions, such as steaming, low-temperature storage, and salting, can also cause the separation of melon silk. This is because the thin-walled cells of the melon silk lose water after treatment, and the melon silk shrinks, thereby breaking the thin-walled cells between the melon silks; especially after steaming, the cells are killed, the cell membrane loses permeability, water infiltrates, and the cells shrink, which causes the thin-walled cells between the melon silks to rupture and separate from each other.

Therefore, after the golden loofah is cooked, it only needs to be stirred to become a "thousands of threads", and the melon threads can generally reach 18 to 20 centimeters. Among the many pumpkin varieties, the only one that can be "sensible" enough to "shred" itself and still have a "bowl" is the golden loofah.

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What’s so special about the nutritional value of sponge gourd?

Golden sponge gourd is a variant of zucchini in the Cucurbitaceae family. It tastes similar to zucchini, and although nutritionally different from zucchini, they are mostly comparable.

1

protein

The protein content of sponge gourd is relatively good among common vegetables. Most of the vegetables we usually eat contain no more than 2 grams of protein per 100 grams, while the protein content of sponge gourd is as high as 3.3 grams per 100 grams, which is nearly 4 times that of zucchini.

2

carbohydrate

The carbohydrate content of zucchini is similar to that of Chinese cabbage, only 3.8 grams per 100 grams, while the carbohydrate content of loofah is lower than that of zucchini and the starch content is also less, so it tastes crisper than zucchini.

3

Dietary fiber

The dietary fiber content of sponge gourd and zucchini is not high, only 0.8 g/100 g and 0.6 g/100 g respectively.

4

Vitamin C

The vitamin C content of sponge gourd and zucchini is very low, only 1 mg/100 g and 6 mg/100 g respectively. Whether eaten raw or cooked, they do not contribute much to vitamin C supplementation.

5

Minerals

Compared with sponge gourd and zucchini, the content of minerals calcium, potassium and magnesium in both are similar, which is not outstanding among vegetables.

However, the zinc content of golden loofah is still excellent, up to 1.77 mg/100 g, nearly 15 times that of zucchini. Zinc is an essential trace element for the human body and is often praised as the "flower of life" and the "source of intelligence." Zinc deficiency in the body may lead to picky eating, pica, affect brain function, affect wound healing, affect male fertility, make people susceptible to respiratory infections, induce ADHD, hair loss, rough skin, etc.

Eating 100 grams of golden loofah can meet 15% and 21% of the daily zinc needs of adult men and women respectively, which is pretty good. As for the calories of golden loofah and zucchini, they are not high. They are low-calorie, low-fat, and low-carbohydrate foods, so you can eat them with confidence to lose weight and control sugar.

Other studies have mentioned that the flesh of the golden loofah is rich in small molecule substances, cucurbitacin and succinic acid, which are not found in other common melon vegetables. The former can regulate human metabolism, while the latter can inhibit the conversion of carbohydrates into fat, preventing fat accumulation in the body, and has the effect of losing weight and preventing coronary heart disease.

How to eat sponge gourd?

A small golden sponge gourd weighs about 1 jin, and a large one can reach up to 5 jin. The young melons can be eaten like other varieties of pumpkins, but in most cases the melon shreds are mainly eaten as they are mature.

The taste of golden sponge gourd is mostly crisp and tasteless, so you need to spend a little time thinking about how to eat it. The most common way to eat it is to mix it with cold sponge gourd.

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You can cut the golden loofah in half, take out the pulp and seeds, steam or cook it (about 10 minutes after the water boils), take it out and immediately put it in cold water, stir it in one direction with chopsticks or a fork after it cools down, then add soy sauce, vinegar, scallion oil, mashed garlic, pepper and other seasonings you like, mix well and eat it, it feels like eating cold noodles or cold potato shreds. If you use frozen golden loofah, you can stir it into shreds directly after thawing without steaming or boiling.

This kind of cold-mixed sponge gourd has golden color and a crispy texture like jellyfish, so it is also known as "plant jellyfish" and "vegetarian jellyfish". If you don't like to mix it cold, you can cook it in soup, fry it, or make it into stuffing.

Golden loofah is a treasure gifted by nature. Although it is not very nutritious, its unique charm of "no need to cut with a knife, it becomes silk naturally" adds deliciousness and fun to the table. Would you like to try one out of curiosity?

References

[1] Liu Xing. Study on genetic diversity of Cucurbita pepo and its relationship with Cucurbita genus[D]. Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 2015.

[2] Yin Xiefen, Yang Jinhua. Structure and formation of the filamentous pulp layer of Chongming melon [J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University (Agricultural Science Edition), 1991, 18(1): 58-64

[3] Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 1[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018

Planning and production

Author: Xue Qingxin, registered nutritionist

Review丨Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center