It’s a misty morning, and heading to the backyard, you notice how the chillies are blushing red, the dried coconut palms are trying to touch the ground, and walking past them towards the huge mango tree, you pluck a mango leaf and use the twig to brush your teeth.
Well, you may not be among those who wake up to this morning routine. However, there was a time in Goa when the people lived with the environment in exactly such a coexistent manner – you had a new toothbrush every morning!
Nature was never subordinate to development, providing not just food on the table, but the odds and ends that made life what it was.
In these modern times, everything we wish for is lined up on a screen, a click away to call it yours and delivered at home.
But, you’ll be surprised that times were convenient even back then, as whatever was needed was found in the backyard. Like the gourds that weren’t just consumed as veggies, but sometimes used as loofahs or scrubbers.
“Loofahs are generally made from matt'ttem gosallem (sponge gourd), but could also be made from gosallem turia (ridge gourd),” informs horticulture consultant, Miguel Braganza, who adds, “Tribals have had a long tradition of using cucurbit fruits."
"Kokan dudhi (bottle gourd) gives toddy tappers the dudhkem to be used as storage vessels for liquids, as well as loofahs as body and utensil scrubbers,” he mentions.
Natural loofah sponges come from the fruits of luffa plants (vines) that hail from the family of Cucurbitaceae of gourds, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins and squash that are popular in countries like India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
“These are cultivated and eaten as a vegetable, but must be harvested at a young stage of development to be edible,” says Miguel, who adds that when the fruit is fully ripened, it becomes very fibrous and this fully developed fruit is the source of the loofah scrubber.
Mature sponge gourds dry on the vines. Once the flesh disappears, it leaves the fibrous skeleton and seeds behind, which are easily peeled and shaken out respectively.
“Unlike katho (coconut fibre), loofah fibres are meshed and do not disintegrate easily and last for a year or longer if stored dry,” mentions Miguel, who spills an interesting fact of loofahs previously even being used as diesel filters for USA and UK battle tanks, and trucks in the Philippines, during World War II.
Speaking about these organic and sustainable scrubbers, Tanya Carvalho Fernandes, who runs Edricia Farm, Siolim, says, “Like soap nuts, loofahs are used as natural scrubbers."
"At my farm, I sell these loofahs, made from a bitter variety of cucumbers that’s not popular as a vegetable, for about Rs 60 to 100 a piece depending on the size,” she adds.
Natural loofah sponges come from the fruits of luffa plants (vines) that hail from the family of Cucurbitaceae of gourds, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins and squash that are popular in countries like India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Apart from using them as scrubbers, Tanya also encourages kids at her art classes to paint and engage with natural materials to make patterns instead of the traditional sponge.
“Some use the fully dried loofahs for dry flower arrangements and paint on them, too. I love to promote such classes and would love others to join too,” says Tanya.
Today, these natural scrubbers aren’t very popular in local kitchens, but with sustainability becoming a trend, loofah bath scrubbers are being picked off the shelves pretty quickly.
Apart from being natural, they are soft and easy on the skin, which remain features that buyers visiting supermarkets, stores dealing with toiletries, and pop-up markets, often end up looking for.
But like they say, everything you’re searching for is right next to you, so look for loofahs that are abundantly available at the end of the monsoons. Who knows, you could just find some in your own backyard!
