Momordica charantia is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown for edible fruit, which is among the most bitter of all vegetables. English names for the plant and its fruit include bitter melon or bitter gourd (translated from Chinese: 苦瓜 ; pinyin: kǔguā), goya from Japanese, ampalaya from Tagalog, and karella from the Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu, Nepali and Bengali name of the vegetable, or khổ qua / mướp đắng (literally: bitter luffa) from Vietnamese. South American and Caribbean names include Carilla , Balsamino and Saraseed .
The original home of the species is not known, other than that it is a native of the tropics. It is widely grown in India and other parts of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, China, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Description
The herbaceous, tendril-bearing vine grows to 5 m. It bears simple, alternate leaves 4–12 cm across, with 3–7 deeply separated lobes. Each plant bears separate yellow male and female flowers.
The fruit has a distinct warty looking exterior and an oblong shape. It is hollow in cross-section, with a relatively thin layer of flesh surrounding a central seed cavity filled with large flat seeds and pith. Seeds and pith appear white in unripe fruits, ripening to red; they are not intensely bitter and can be removed before cooking. However, the pith will become sweet when the fruit is fully ripe, and the pith's color will turn red. The pith can be eaten uncooked in this state, but the flesh of the melon will be far too tough to be eaten anymore. Red and sweet bitter melon pith is a popular ingredient in some southeast Asian salads. The flesh is crunchy and watery in texture, similar to cucumber, chayote or green bell pepper. The skin is tender and edible. The fruit is most often eaten green. Although it can also be eaten when it has started to ripen and turn yellowish, it becomes more bitter as it ripens. The fully ripe fruit turns orange and mushy, is too bitter to eat, and splits into segments which curl back dramatically to expose seeds covered in bright red pulp.
Bitter melon comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. The typical Chinese phenotype is 20–30 cm long, oblong with bluntly tapering ends and pale green in color, with a gently undulating, warty surface. The bitter melon more typical of India has a narrower shape with pointed ends, and a surface covered with jagged, triangular "teeth" and ridges. Coloration is green or white. Between these two extremes are any number of intermediate forms. Some bear miniature fruit of only 6–10 cm in length, which may be served individually as stuffed vegetables. These miniature fruit are popular in Southeast Asia as well as India.
Bitter melon contains a bitter compound called momordicin that is said to have a stomachic effect.
Culinary uses
- Bitter melon is often used in Chinese cooking for its bitter flavor, typically in stir-fries (often with pork and douchi), soups, and also as tea.
- It is very popular throughout India, where it is often prepared with potatoes and served with yogurt on the side to offset the bitterness, or used in sabji. It is stuffed with spices and then fried in oil, which is very popular in Punjabi cuisine. It is a popular food in Tamil Nadu and in the South Indian state of Kerala. They use it for making a dish called thoran mixed with grated coconut, theeyal and pachadi. This is one common medicinal food for diabetics. Popular recipes include curry, deep fry with peanuts (ground nuts), and 'Pachi Pulusu' (కాకరకాయ పచ్చి పులుసు), a kind of soup made up of boiled Bitter Melon, fried onions and other spices.
- In Pakistan bitter melon is available in the summertime, and is cooked with lots of onions. A traditional way to cook bitter melon curry is to peel off the skin and cut into thin slices. It is salted and exposed to direct sunlight for few hours to reduce its bitterness. After a few hours, its salty, bitter water is reduced by squeezing out the excess by hand. Then it's rinsed with water a few times. Then fried in cooking oil, with onions also fried in another pan. When the onions have turned a little pink in color, the fried bitter melon is added to them. After some further frying of both the onions and bitter melon, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, coriander powder, and a pinch of cumin seeds are also added. A little water can be sprinkled while frying the spices to prevent burning. Then a good amount of tomato is added to the curry, with green chillies, according to taste. Now the pan is covered with a lid, heat reduced to minimum, the tomatoes reduce, and all the flavors blend together. The curry is stirred a few times (at intervals) during this covering period. After half an hour or so, the curry is ready to serve, with soft hot flatbreads (chappatis, چپاتی) and yogurt chutney. Another dish in Pakistan calls for whole, unpeeled bitter melon to be boiled and then stuffed with cooked ground beef. In this dish, it is recommended that the bitter melon be left 'debittered'. It is served with either hot tandoori bread, naan, chappati, or with khichri (a mixture of lentils and rice).
- Bitter melon is rarely used in mainland Japan, but is a significant component of Okinawan cuisine, and is credited with Okinawan life expectancies being higher than already long Japanese ones.
- In Indonesia, bitter melon is prepared in various dishes, such as stir fry, cooked in coconut milk, or steamed.
- In Vietnam, raw bitter melon slices consumed with dried meat floss and stuffed to make bitter melon soup with shrimp are popular dishes. Bitter melons stuffed with ground pork are served as a popular summer soup in the South. It is also used as the main ingredient of "stewed bitter melon". This dish is usually cooked for the Tết holiday as its name: "bitter" reminds people not to forget or disrespect to poor living condition experienced in the past.
- It is prepared in various dishes in the Philippines, where it is known as Ampalaya. Ampalaya may also be stir-fried with ground beef and oyster sauce, or with eggs and diced tomato. A very popular dish from the Ilocos region of the Philippines, pinakbet, consists mainly of bitter melons, eggplant, okra, string beans, tomatoes, lima beans, and other various regional vegetables stewed with a little bagoong-based stock. The young shoots and leaves may also be eaten as greens; in the Philippines, where bitter melon leaves are commonly consumed, they are called dahon (leaves) ng ampalaya.
- In Nepal bitter melon is prepared in various ways. Most prepare it as fresh achar (a type of pickle). For this the bitter gourd is cut into cubes or slices and sautéed covered in little oil and a sprinkle of water. When it is softened and reduced, it is minced in a mortar with a few cloves of garlic, salt and a red or green pepper. Another way is the sautéed version. In this, bitter gourd is cut in thin round slices or cubes and fried (sauteed) with much less oil and some salt, cumin and red chili. It is fried until the vegetable softens with hints of golden brown. It is even prepared as a curry on its own, or with potato; and made as stuffed vegetables.
Medicinal uses
Bitter melon has been used in various Asian traditional medicine systems for a long time . Like most bitter-tasting foods, bitter melon stimulates digestion. While this can be helpful in people with sluggish digestion, dyspepsia, and constipation, it can sometimes make heartburn and ulcers worse. The fact that bitter melon is also a demulcent and at least mild inflammation modulator, however, means that it rarely does have these negative effects, based on clinical experience and traditional reports.
Though it has been claimed that bitter melon’s bitterness comes from quinine, no evidence could be located supporting this claim. Bitter melon is traditionally regarded by Asians, as well as Panamanians and Colombians, as useful for preventing and treating malaria. Laboratory studies have confirmed that various species of bitter melon have anti-malarial activity, though human studies have not yet been published .
In Panama bitter melon is known as Balsamino. The pods are smaller and bright orange when ripe with very sweet red seeds, but only the leaves of the plant are brewed in hot water to create a tea to treat malaria and diabetes. The leaves are allowed to steep in hot water before being strained thoroughly so that only the remaining liquid is used for the tea.
Database File: Bitter Melon, Momordica charantia, Bitter Melon ...
Online Plant Database contains over 100 important rainforest medicinal plants including Bitter Melon - Momordica charantia
Bitter melon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Momordica charantia is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown for edible fruit, which is among the most bitter of all vegetables.
Bitter Melon Information
Bitter Melon, Information by Kasma Loha-unchit. ... Thai Food & Travel. Explore Thai Food and Travel with Kasma Loha-unchit.
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1: The edible fruit of the plant Momordica Charantia. The bitter melon grows in tropical and subtropical climates. The name ‘bitter’ comes from the bitter taste of this ...
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bitter melon recipes?
Does anyone have a good Asian recipe for cooking bitter melon? I'd love to try it, but am not sure how best to cook it. Thanks :-) ! Marcelo