AN ASIAN FAVORITE
‘Diversify your palate’ with bitter melon, a most unusual fruit
I see lots of familiar things on my morning run through the neighborhood. Every so often, though, I catch something out of the corner of my eye that demands a second look.
This fall, it was a weird-looking, oblong-shaped plant climbing up a chain-link fence on the side of a bridge. Long and green, it was dangling on a rail from a wispy vine dotted with tiny yellow flowers like some kind of vegetal Christmas tree ornament. Was it a weed or did somebody plant it there on purpose?
A friend in a food-centric Facebook group had an immediate answer to my query. It was a bitter melon, a tropical vine that belongs to the gourd family. Its edible fruit is a popular ingredient in many Asian cuisines, both because of its texture (it’s crunchy) and its purported medicinal properties (it can lower blood sugar levels). People also adore the fruit’s unique, acerbic taste.
Cooked more like a vegetable than a fruit, bitter melon is a common ingredient in Indian stews and curries, Japanese and Chinese stir-fries, and sauteed Filipino dishes and fried snacks. It also can be hollowed out and stuffed with ground meat and spices like squash, or be steamed or pan-fried. Some even like to eat it raw or squeeze the fruit into juice.
However it’s prepared, bitter melon is more backup artist than lead vocalist. It is used to counterbalance the richness of the main ingredient rather than outshine it. Its astringent taste pairs especially well with chili peppers and fatty meats like pork.
To say bitter melon has a unique flavor profile is quite the understatement. Never has a fruit or vegetable been so aptly named. The first time you try it, in fact, it might prove so unpleasant on the palate that you may be tempted to spit it out.
“It’s definitely an acquired taste,” says Jayashree Iyengar, who teaches classes on Indian cooking at Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory and other venues.
She particularly loves it in a stew, where the bitterness can be toned down with tamarind, coconut, chili and salt. Her mother also cooked it in rings dipped in chickpea flour and dusted it with chili powder and salt after deep-frying it.
412 Food Rescue co-founder Leah Lizarondo, who was born and raised in the Philippines, can relate to its taste. Her mother, Aida, who’s been staying with her during the pandemic, has made her favorite stew with it many times during the past few months. Known as ginisang ampalaya at hipon, it features the addition of shrimp, tomatoes, onion and scrambled egg.
Thought to have originated in India before making its way to China in the 14th century, there are two varieties of bitter melon: Chinese bitter melon is less pebbly than the spiky Indian counterpart. Some say it also tastes less bitter.
Now common to all tropical parts of the world, the fruit also is known as bitter gourd, bitter cucumber and balsam pear.
You can find it in most Asian markets, usually for less than $2 a pound.
So why do we want to eat it if
it tastes so unusual?
Two compounds found in bitter melon — polypeptide-p and charantin — have been shown to play a role in lowering blood sugar. It has been used traditionally in Asian countries to treat diabetes, says registered dietitian and nutrition consultant Heather
Mangieri.
Bitter melon is loaded with key nutrients like folate and vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin that promotes skin health and proper vision. It’s especially rich in vitamin C.
Look for half-ripened melons that are firm to the touch and without bruises or dents and store them wrapped in a paper towel in a ziplock plastic bag in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator for four to five days.
Bitter melon might take some getting used to, Iyengar says, but in this multicultural world, where ethnic foods are commanding a bigger share of the limelight, that unfamiliarity doesn’t have to be a negative. It’s a big, wide food world out there.
“Try it to diversify your palate,” she says, “and try something good that’s new.”