Does anyone knows what type of fruit or vegetable is this and how do you eat it?

[Georgios The Greek]

Does anyone knows what type of fruit or vegetable is this and how do you eat it?

[Wunga]

Bitter melon probably. Put it in soup or saute like zuchinni. Very bitter. Can eat leaves also.

[spiff2]

It does look like bitter melon. And boy they could not have picked a better name. They are rough. They are supposed to be good for diabetics. I couldn't do it so I just take the pills.

[Mario]

I wouldn’t eat it , too strange looking

[goodfriendmike]

A type of Squash. I would slice and saute'

[Wunga]

Seeds are edible when young but better to scoop out and throw away. Pairs well with pork or shrimp but still tastes like poison.

[JT1923]

I agree with Wunga it looks like bitter melon. Google for recipes.

[Harish-C]

Bitter melon; quite popular in Chinese cooking. A slightly different version, deeper green in color, is also very popular in Indian cuisine. Taste bitter when raw, but works very well when cooked with hot spices in Indian cooking.

[ZomVee]

I grew Bitter Melon a couple years ago and once I had some I asked "what now?" A Filipina friend of mine suggested sautéed and in an omelet and it was very good.

[don_sanders]

Not my thing but some Chinese recipes do at least make it tolerable.

[Jeffrey88]

Its bitter melon, you slice it to thin pieces and pan fry. Better with black bean sauce.

[oat]

Bitter melon. It’s delicious. This is the Chinese variety. It’s not that bitter for my taste. You can eat it with eggs. We also stuff it with pork and put the whole thing in a soup. You can boil it a bit and eat it like a vegetable with chili paste ☺️

[PBfigs]

Definitely Bitter melon. My parents loved eating it, but I could never get used to it. Too bitter for me even when properly prepared.

[oat]

An old man told me that he didn’t like it when he was young either but he learned to like it after tasting some bitterness in life.

[PBfigs]

Is that for real or from a fortune cookie?

[oat]

For real

[ZingsFigs]

I am not a fan of bitter tasting food. I would like to hear what you do with it and how you prepared it if you decide to cook it.

[WCFiggy]

It's bitter melon. It is very popular in east Asia, especially in China and Philippines. You can pan fry it thinly sliced with a bit of Hoisin Sauce, a bit of Soy Sauce with or without Black Bean sauce. You can also make soup of it. Regardless, it's very tasty if cooked right. If it's too bitter, one can rub some salt on thinly sliced bitter melon for 15 or so minutes and wash the salt off then cook.

[maxmonster]

Bittermelon, as everyone said its usually used in asian cooking, my mom used to try and get me to eat it all the time... i hate it

[a.tibor]

Here is a curry recipe with it. I think in South Asia it is called Karela. It is surprisingly bitter but is an acquired taste, it pairs well with sour and hot spices. I wish to try Chinese recipes with it in the future.

[Red_Sun]

There are various kinds of bitter melon. This one I had can be had as fruit. Just leave it ripen on the vine. Then it is super sweet inside. This is why it is still called a melon. I just can't find a photo with red pulp inside.

[jake44141]

Bitter melon is probably the healthies vegetable. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. After eating greasy food for days, you would feel like that your body is breaking down -- cuts take much longer to heal and your throat feels sore etc... Eating some bitter melon will clean up your body and the cuts will heal lot faster. In fact, bitter melon inflammatory effects are so powerful that bitter melon is used to make cancer drugs.

Most people can only task the bitter in bitter melon. In fact, bitter melon is also sweet and tasty. It’s my favorite veggie. Every summer, I grow lots of them. We have been eating bitter melon every day lately.

So, how to cook bitter melon that is palatable and tasty? I have seen people futilely trying all kind of tricks to make bitter melon less bitter. It doesn’t need to be like that.

The simplest way I do it is to make soup with bitter melon. Make sure that’s lots of meat and bones in the pot. I often debone a whole chicken, use the bones for the soup. My sons like the soup a lot.

Stir fry bitter melon with sliced steak (or pork or chicken) is also my favorite. The melon will taste a little bitter, but you will also taste the sweetness in the melon. I often eat bowls of it at a time. That’s heavenly.


This year's bitter melon plot. It's 8' wide and 8' tall. In a normal year, that would produce more than 60 pounds of melon in a season. But, this year, because of the rainy and cool summer, we just have enough melon to eat.







picture from last year

[PBfigs]

Pak, you inspire me. I used to grow it to give to my Asian friends. I should try it again and learn to like it. As I get older, I need all of the anti inflammatory and nutritional benefits I can get. Thanks!

[jake44141]

Peter, thanks you. That's very nice of you. You are always so generous. Simple bitter melon soup with broth would have very little bitter taste. And the texture is excellent. Just boil it for about 30 minutes.

[KDAD]

I like bitter melon with eggs, stir fried with meat, or in soup. This was the last of a container of pickled bitter melon with egg plant, red onions and ginger that i just finished. Though I don't mind the bitterness it did go away in the pickling and the dish itself was on the spicy side, maybe from the ginger or black pepper.

[JT1923]

I like it pickled, too!