Bitter MelonMomordica charantia

Did you know?

• Left on the vine, the green fruit turns orange and splits open to reveal its seeds, wrapped in sweet, bright red pulp^{[4, 5, 8]}.

• Its names travel with it: karela in India, ampalaya in the Philippines, goya in Okinawa and melão-de-são-caetano in Brazil^{[6, 7, 8]}.

• Its genus name, Momordica, may come from the Latin mordeo, "to bite", perhaps because its seeds look as if they have been bitten^[6].

• In China and Okinawa, bitter melon has been used in place of hops as the bittering ingredient in some beers^[6].

• Cooks tame its bitterness by salting the sliced fruit and squeezing out the juice, soaking it in salt water, or parboiling it^{[3, 5, 6]}.

• It is not only the fresh fruit that is used: the leaves and tender shoots are cooked as greens, and in Japan and other Asian countries dried slices of the fruit are brewed as a tea^{[5, 6]}.

Origins and history

Bitter melon is an annual vine that climbs by slender tendrils and can reach 5 meters (16 feet) or more^{[5, 6]}. Its fruit is oblong, ribbed and covered in bumps, like a small, pointed cucumber, and is usually 3 to 10 inches (7 to 25 cm) long^{[3, 4, 5, 6]}. The plant is native to the Old World tropics, from West Africa across India and Southeast Asia to northern Australia and the Pacific islands^{[1, 5]}. It was later carried to the Americas and has naturalized from the southern United States and the Caribbean to Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina^{[1, 4]}.

Bitter melon is picked young, while it is still green and firm, and cooked as a vegetable^{[3, 5, 8]}. Every cuisine that loves it has its own way with it. In China it is stir-fried, often with black-bean sauce. In southern India it goes into theeyal, a dish soured with tamarind. In Sri Lanka it is curried, and in Vietnam it is sliced and eaten raw^[3]. In Okinawa, where it is called goya, it is the heart of goya chanpuru, a summer stir-fry with Okinawan tofu, pork and egg^[10]. It is also cooked in the Caribbean, in South America and in parts of Africa^{[2, 4]}, and it is grown throughout the tropics as a vegetable crop^{[4, 6]}. In Brazil, where it is known as melão-de-são-caetano, the Ministry of Health placed it in 2009 on RENISUS, its national list of 71 plants of interest to the public health system^[11].

Traditional uses

Bitter melon is a food first, and unusually for a traditional herb, it has also been studied in people^{[2, 8]}.

• An everyday bitter vegetable

  Across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and South America, the young fruit is cooked in stir-fries, curries and pickles.^{[2, 3, 5]}

• Healthy glucose metabolism

  Bitter melon supports healthy glucose metabolism and helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels already within the normal range.*^{[2, 8]}

• Antioxidant compounds

  The fruit provides naturally occurring antioxidant compounds, including vitamin C.*^{[4, 6]}

Plant compounds

Bitter melon's bitterness comes from naturally occurring plant compounds called cucurbitane-type triterpenoids, including momordicosides and momordicines^{[2, 4, 6]}. The plant also contains charantin and phenolic compounds^{[4, 6, 8]}. The fruit contains vitamin C, and the seeds contain a compound called vicine^{[2, 4, 6, 8]}.