Ridge gourd
Luffa acutangula · Fruit vegetable
Top 10 pairings
Ridge gourd is the long, ribbed, dark-green immature fruit of the climbing vine Luffa acutangula, eaten as a tender vegetable across South and Southeast Asia. Mild, faintly sweet and spongy when cooked, it is the same plant whose mature fruit, left to dry, becomes the fibrous "loofah" bath sponge.
Picking a good onedrag
Slim, dark green, ridges sharpFibrous, or shrivelled and soft
Full sizeEveryday bestThe all-rounder: dal, curry, and chutney from the peeled-off ridges.
Skin and ridgesGreen, ridges just blunting, skin still smooth
Weight and bendFirm, gives a little, still heavy in the hand
The two endsStem end dry but pale, blossom end still narrow
Snapped tipSnaps with a slight pull, flesh white, seeds pale
What you get from one
73%
Edible part
178 g · ridges, skin, ends off
244 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
Below 10 °C the skin discolours, watery lesions form under it and decay runs — the main fridge is colder than that.
90-95%
Humidity
Loose perforated bag
Airflow