There’s a piece of Hmong culinary folk wisdom about bitter melon that says that people don’t like bitter melon until they turn 30. It takes time for a person to age and wizen enough to appreciate it.
Well, I’m 32 and still can’t stand it, while my 17-year-old nephew can’t get enough of it. So, there goes that theory…
Bitter melon – also called bitter gourd, goya, karela, balsam pear, and bitter squash – is a fruit popular in Asian cooking, though it occasionally appears in New Zealand, African and Caribbean cuisine.
The fruits are harvested when green and under-ripe and the bright yellow-ripe fruits are mushy and bursting with red, inedible pulp.The bitter melon is the fruit of the Momordica charantia plant, a subtropical and tropical vine.
The fruit, and it is indeed a fruit though one might guess it vegetable, is oblong is shape with tapered ends and grows about 20-30 cm in length though smaller varieties exist. Bitter melons can be dark green to pale green in color, though there are afew other rare varieties that can learn towards yellow or brown.
While there are numerous varieties they are generally divided into two groups: Indian and Chinese. The Indian varieties are darker in color and have jagged teeth and ridges that look thorny in appearance but are quite dull. The Chinese variety is soft with a waxy, warty appearance.
The fruit consists of a crunchy outer layer surrounding a spongy interior with large seeds. The sponge and seeds are often removed before cooking due to their intensely bitter taste, but some people do eat them. The exterior is similar in flavor to green bell peppers and cucumber, but with an intensely bitter taste.
Chinese recipes often call for stir-frying it orstuffing it with herbs and ground chicken or pork and boiling them into a soup.Bitter melon is served in a variety of ways in numerous cultures:
- In Taiwan, bitter melons are deep-fried plain or stuffed with savory fillings.
- Pinkabit, a Fillipino dish, consists of stewed bitter melon with eggplant, green beans, okra, and tomatoes.
- Indian cuisine often serves bitter melon cooked into curries packed with turmeric and ginger.
- Carribbean cuisine often serves them stir-fried with chiles and garlic.
- In Okinawa, Japan, bitter melon is served in salads and stir-frys, but also used to flavor candies, pickles, and even soft drinks.
In rare cases, bitter melon can cause abdominal pain or cramping. For this reason, pregnant women are recommended to not eat bitter melon. However, some studies have shown promising initial research that bitter melon may have beneficial properties in fighting diseases such as cancer and HIV.
Other studies show it might be able to help lower blood pressure.
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