🍲 Hechima Jiru (Luffa Soup)

"Hechima Jiru" is a local dish from Kagoshima Prefecture. It consists of miso soup with luffa served in a bowl of somen noodles. While people in other regions use luffa as a scrubbing brush or lotion, Kagoshima locals have been eating it for a long time. In fact, the 1802 encyclopedia "Shaping Illustrations" compiled by Shigehisa Shimazu describes luffa cuisine. Luffa belongs to the Cucurbits family and is native to tropical Asia. It thrives in hot and humid weather, which is why it is mostly grown in Okinawa Prefecture and southern Kyushu in Japan. Its high fiber content earned it the nickname “ito-uri” (sponge gourd) and later it was abbreviated to “to-uri”. And since “to” is in between “he” and “chi” in the Iroha order (traditional order of the Japanese syllabary), it came to be called “hechima” (meaning between the “he” and “chi”). For food, a variety with less developed fibers is grown. The fruits are harvested when they are young, less than 20 cm in length, to prevent the fibers from becoming tough. Kagoshima locals serve luffa dishes in the summertime. The most popular dish is luffa soup, but luffa is also used in other dishes such as stir-fries.