Bitter melon

[chowder]

Does anyone here eat this?Last year we grew it after seeing Dr.Oz.He claims it is very good for you with lots of health benefits.We found plants at a nursery and it grew just fine,but eating it,well it is bitter.I was told to use in stir frys cut very thin.
Does anyone have any cooking tips,or recipes using this?
I kept seeds to grow this again but no use if we aren't going to eat it.Thanks

[ktsmama]

I read an article about it's benefits, too. I will keep watching this thread.

[Joshin]

I flipped through some of my Asian cookbooks and they recommend boiling it for a couple of minutes to leech out some of the bitterness. Of course, that probably also leeches out some of the nutrition. It is also served with beans in a few recipes, possible because the bland flavor of the beans helps temper the bitterness? Just a guess!

[Libby]

I eat this several times a week LOL

Bitter melon/Bitter gourd is known for his sugar lowering properties especially in diabetics. As I surf the web I see a lot of 'bitter melon/gourd' type 'supplements' but they're all based out of Asia. I wonder what the filler is?

We halve it, seed it and then blanch it prior to stir frying with thinly sliced beef with garlic black bean sauce. We like it best this way.

You can also halve them, seed them and quarter them, blanch then stuff with a ground pork or a fish paste mixture then steam til the meat is cooked through as well.

I'd imagine sauteeing it with plenty of garlic, onions and perhaps some curry could help 'hide' the taste but I've never tried it that way. I wonder if you could deep fry it like pickles and dip it into a curry yoghurt sauce to help make it more pallatable?

The other way of ingesting the properties - same prep as above but we boil it with a bit of wintermelon and dried shrimps to make a soup/broth from it. Its very bitter but the wintermelon does help cut it down quite a bit.

Don't get me wrong - its pretty bitter but not as bitter as home grown varieties. The more bitter it is, the better it is for you BTW: I've been eating this my entire life an drinking the liquid - I am still a diabetic and my sugar levels haven't really changed much. As with most traditional Eastern Herbal Medicines - its more of a habitual and preventative maintenance type thing. You will not see results overnight. Its not instant like Tylenol etc or any other type of Western Medicine.

Asian Bitter Melon from China/Japan:




Asian Bitter Melon from India:

[shoiji]

Now I know what those things are that I see in the asian markets!