Bitter melon

Overview

A tropical vine producing warty, oblong fruits with an intensely bitter flavor that is central to cuisines across Asia and the Caribbean. Bitter melon is one of the most studied plants for blood sugar regulation, used for centuries in Ayurvedic, Chinese, and traditional medicine. The bitterness mellows with cooking, and the fruit is often stuffed, stir-fried, or added to curries.

Momordica charantia, commonly called bitter melon, gouya, cerassee, goya, bitter apple, bitter gourd, bitter squash, balsam-pear, karela, karavila, and many other names, is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae. It is widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit. The many varieties of bitter melon differ substantially in the shape and bitterness of the fruit.

This herbaceous, tendril-bearing vine grows up to 5 m (16 ft) in length. It bears simple, alternate leaves 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) across, with three to seven deeply separated lobes. Each plant bears separate yellow male and female flowers. In the Northern Hemisphere, flowering occurs from June to July, and fruiting from September to November. It is a frost-tender annual in the temperate zone and a perennial in the tropics. It grows best in USDA zones 9 to 11.

The fruit has a distinctive warty 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. The fruit is most often eaten green, or as it is beginning to turn yellow. At this stage, the fruit's flesh is crunchy and watery in texture, similar to cucumber, chayote, or green bell pepper, but bitter. The skin is tender and edible.

Seeds and pith appear white in unripe fruits; they are not intensely bitter and can be removed before cooking. Some sources claim the flesh (rind) becomes somewhat tougher and more bitter with age, but other sources claim that at least for the common Chinese variety the skin does not change and bitterness decreases with age. The Chinese variety is best harvested light green possibly with a slight yellow tinge or just before.

The pith becomes sweet and intensely red; it can be eaten uncooked in this state and is a popular ingredient in some Southeast Asian salads. When the fruit is fully ripe, it turns orange and soft and splits into segments that curl back to expose seeds covered in bright red pulp.

Bitter melons come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The common Chinese variety is 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) long, oblong with blunt ends, pale green in color, and has a slightly undulating warty surface. The common Indian bitter melon is narrower in shape, pointed at both ends, and covered with jagged, triangular "teeth" and ridges. It ranges from green to white in color. There are many intermediate shapes between these two extremes. Some bitter melons produce miniature fruits that are only 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) long and are eaten alone as a stuffed vegetable. These miniature fruits are popular in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Growing Conditions

Habitat & Range

Habitat

Forest Edges & Thickets

Native Range

Native to Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky; also native to Angola, Assam, Bangladesh and 61 more regions; introduced in 6 US states

Cultivation Region

Subtropical to tropical

Botanical data via projectGAIA.

Companion Planting & Soil

Sowing & Propagation

Planting Calendar

When to sow, transplant, and harvest by growing zone.

Uses

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