Talk:Bitter melon

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Contents

[edit] Chinese characters

What are the Chinese characters for Bitter Melon (Foo Gwa)?

[edit] Quinine question

Does this plant contain quinine? Various websites claim it does, but I've been unable to locate a primary source for this info 4hodmt 15:20, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recent reorganization

I have tried to organize a little without taking away any information. If I did it was a mistake.

I tried to separate the long list of names in many languages into those that are actually used in English text and those that are only used in their original languages. Basically, I googled for "the karela" and "the ampalaya" and got convincing results, but couldn't find a lot of relevant uses of "the pavakka" or "the karawila".

— Pekinensis 18:51, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recipes

My wife likes to stuff bitter melon with a pork mixture and boil it. We eat it with rice. The Pilipino version I had was baked and stuffed with ground beef and cheese. That one was mighty tasty! The bitterness can be somewhat alleviated by baptising it in soy sauce. Do Americanos really know about this fruit?Jlujan69 22:13, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

My mother was looking into it because of the connected diabetes information with it. I started eating it because its another good vegetable. There's a Chinese place in NJ (US) that always has it with the other hot food they make and I always get it. They even sell it not cooked. I've also found it in Korean markets and Indian markets in jersey. I've yet to buy it and cook it, but I found various recipes online. Psilocybin 06:25, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

In Chinese restruants in China, its often served as a cold dish of just bitter melon. cold dishes are like bread in american restruants, they are served first while your food is being cooked.

[edit] Sweet bitter melon

I have been trying to correct this statement but was edited out: "The fully ripe fruit turns orange and mushy, is too bitter to eat". Amazingly, bitten melow turns to very sweet like a fruit once it is ripe. Grown up in the countryside of China, one of my childhood joys was that my Dad would let some of the bitter melows ripe so my brother and I could eat them like fruits. Bitter melow is bitter before mature so it can fend of the animals, but turns to sweet when mature so the seeds can be spread by the animals - A common evolution strategy for many plants.

Bitter melon as it ripens become yellowish / orange at the "undulations." The pith remains mostly white but becomes more stringy. The individually seed are coated with a red flesh that is quite mild and sweet. The flesh itself become softer and less crunchy. I know this because my grandma grows several varieties of it annually.

[edit] ABC Dude Abides

Other on-line articles say that ripe bitter melon isn't quite so bitter. Over 50 years of experience with preparation, cooking and eating bitter melon has taught me that ripe bitter melon is sweeter than green. When the flesh becomes reddish-orange, the seeds turn red and the pulp yellow. I actually look for ripe bitter melon in the market; it tastes better!

Most Cantonese recipes for bitter melon include fermented black beans. Restaurants serve it stir-fried with strips of flank steak in a black bean sauce. Home-style recipes call for 1-inch rings of bitter melon stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, diced waterchestnuts, diced black mushrooms, ham and black bean sauce. The stuffed rings are steamed for about 15 to 20 minutes.

[edit] Snozzcumbers

Anyone who read the BFG probably thought right away: are these snozzcumbers? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.72.21.221 (talk) 01:28, 6 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Merge

Please merge Foo qua into Bitter melon. Badagnani 20:33, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Done.--Curtis Clark 04:34, 29 May 2007 (UTC)