Bitter Melon

Bitter melon is also known as bitter gourd. This plant is a fast-growing, trailing or climbing vine with thin stems and tendrils and requires trellis to support the climbing vine.Why is the name bitter melon? You guessed it! This vegetable is bitter, but very sweet to your good health (see Health Benefits). Liking bitter melon is an acquired taste, and yet there is a way to reduce its bitterness. To do so, you must sprinkle salt over the sliced fruit and let it soak in its salty juice for 10 minutes, then rinse prior to cooking. I had two plants last summer (2011) and I had probably about 8 pods. I am definitely planting more this year, just thinking about it makes me salivate for its bitterness.

When to plant. Bitter melon is an exotic Asian plant, therefore, it likes warm weather. In zone 7 where I am, I would plant them outdoor in May or start seeds indoor in April to maximize time for production.

cracked seeds germinated in 5 days as in above

How to plant. On a single pit (2 ft diameter and soil loosened to 1.5 ft deep)  you can plant about five to six seeds about 6 inch apart. It would take about 14 days for the seed to germinate. You can try soaking the seeds in water for a couple of hours prior to planting. You can also set them on a wet paper towel and then covered with another wet paper towel (like making bean seed to sprout) and place them in a warm spot. I did this (see picture) and I tested out with some cracked seeds and some not, if you have a good seed, you should see that it starts to germinate in about 6 days, well the cracked ones anyway. The un-cracked seeds will take longer, about 2 weeks, then plant it in a pot indoor if the weather is
still cool, or directly plant it outside when night temperature is above 70 degrees F.

Note: Crack the seed as if you were eating sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.

Harvest. When the fruits are ready for harvest, their spines (or ridges in the case of Chinese variety) will become less pointy. The ends of spines will get round. This is the best time to harvest them. Once the fruit turns yellow, the seeds inside will look like its coated with red color, those are the seeds you can plant for next season. Yellow fruit is not desirable for cooking, they can get really mushy.

Health Benefits. (http://yourhomegardenblog.com/vegetable-gardening/how-to-grow-exotic-and-delicious-bitter-melons-on-your-backyard)

Once you acquire their taste, they can become a delicacy for your palate. And they are excellent source of various vitamins including A, B1, B3, B3, B6, B9, B12, C, E and K as well as Iron and Magnesium.

According to wikipedia, bitter melon has been used in various Asian traditional medicine systems for a long time. Like most bitter-tasting foods, bitter melons can stimulate digestion. Bitter melons have been used by Asians for centuries and is a popular medicine in Chinese Medicine for diabetes mellitus type 2.

Bitter Melon contains four very promising bioactive compounds. These compounds activate a protein called AMPK, which is well known for regulating fuel metabolism and enabling glucose uptake, processes which are impaired in diabetics.