“JYUNPAKU” Okinawan White Bitter Melon

[karstopography]

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Can’t say I knowingly ever have eaten a bitter melon, let alone grown any, but here are my two plants just starting to bloom. Hopeful they will like the climate here.

[Mark_Thompson]

Is this the one from Baker Creek that looked super pretty? Saw one in the catalog and man was I tempted.

[karstopography]

[mention]Mark_Thompson[/mention] yes sir.

[worth1]

If it's bitter I might like it..

[Julianna]

I got seeds for this! I have been trying to germinate them since January . I was intrigued by the idea th a the seed coating when ripe tastes like cherries.

[pepperhead212]

I grew that variety last season, and it grew well; not as productive as the usual types, and not as viney, but delicious flavor, and not that bitter at all (the dark green Indian spiney type have been the most bitter I've grown). Unfortunately, the seeds are low germination rate, and the few I had left over from last year did not germinate.

[peebee]

How do you all eat it? I know how it is cooked in Okinawa, but what other ways is it cooked?

[Tracydr]

I was so tempted by this but decided I probably wouldn’t like it. I didn’t like the green one that I bought at the Asian market. If this is less bitter then I might give it a go next year.

[karstopography]

So far, my two vines haven’t produced any fruit. It might be where they are in the garden. They flower, but no fruit sets and nothing I recognize as a female flower.

[karstopography]

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Scratch that, I evidently do have one bitter melon!

[pepperhead212]

I'm surprised it took so long! And something that I found strange when I first grew bitter melons - even the female blossoms were on the long stems, like the male blossoms! Totally unlike squash, cucumbers, and other cucurbits I grow.

[karstopography]

I went and looked really closely at the 2 plants with their branching vines. I was able to Identify 4 female flowers among dozens of males.

My plants are in too much shade. I covered up my beds with better summer light in clear plastic to an attempt at solarization for nematode and disease control. As the summer wanes, the bitter melons actually get more light as the sun angle drops enough to be away from a big shading oak nearby. Seems like the plants now are getting more vigorous and producing more growth and blooms with the increase in direct light. It typically stays hot enough here for the most part well into November so there is still time I think to get more than the one fruit.

[karstopography]

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Male and Female flowers. This fruit has really grown in the last few days. I have no idea when to harvest.

[pepperhead212]

Mine got about 8" long before stopping growing (the green varieties got longer), though later in the season (in September) they started getting some orange at about 4", and stopped growing. I have a feeling it was more of a length of day thing - same thing with the late green ones this year. I let one get very ripe, before pulling, but the seeds I saved didn't germinate this year.

[mama_lor]

I had the dark green kind, sold by Daiso in Japan. I think the darker ones are bitter, and very bitter it was, and absolutely no taste even thought the leaves had a strong, quite unpleasant smell.
I made the chanpuru, as basically variations of that is what everyone seems to do with it, including in China. I also pickled it like you would cucumbers, which was quite good. I got 4 from one vine, and the plant just started getting bigger, I think it needs a long season.
I picked it when it seemed to not grow anymore. Don't let it start to get color. After you scrape the insides, there remains a sort of part which is tougher and not easy to remove due to the shape of the fruit. That was my biggest problem, that tough part, the outside has a very nice crisp texture (that tough part also seems to get bigger with older fruit).

[karstopography]

The leaves on this variety have a distinctive fragrance. I kind of like it, but could see how it might be described as unpleasant. The flowers have a wonderful, almost orchid like perfume.

I like bitter flavors as a rule. I know I am on the more extreme end of liking bitter things as compared to most people. I tend to react to sweet flavors like many react to bitter, a little goes a long way. I love Artemisia absinthium, wormwood tea, if that is any indication of my love for bitter in food. Maybe bitter melon will be right up my alley. I plan on doing a stir fry much like the chanpuru.

[pepperhead212]

Those leaves definitely have a unique aroma, and the baby leaves are often used in Asian dishes, though I've never done this. I never noticed the flower aromas! I just pulled my two plants, and countless vines - only 3 smallish, curled fruits, turning red already, so I knew the season was over. Next season I'll try to trim the vines, to limit them greatly, but that is a difficult task, as with some indeterminate tomatoes!

One of my favorite dishes with the bitter melon, so far, has been using some of them in Thai curries. Several years ago I grew a pea eggplant - a.k.a. bitter eggplant, which is only 1/2", and even more bitter, but is often used in Thai curries, in just 1/2 - 3/4 cup amounts. So that's what I did - just diced some up, and added, with all the other veggies - not much bitter melon, but really good in this.

[karstopography]

Harvested my one bigger bitter melon. Seed cavity still was white, understand it turns red at maturity. Sliced the melon up thinly after scooping out the seeds, salted that, let it rest for a few minutes, squeezed out moisture with paper towel and rinsed.

Combined those slices with thin sliced onion and diced fresh tomato. Dressed with rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Salt and pepper.

To my unusually insensitive to bitter things palate I didn’t find the melon to be especially bitter. Crunchy in a good way, with some pleasant hint of bitterness in there. Unfortunately, the onion seemed to dominate the flavor of the melons .Recipe was something I found online as representative of the filipeno culture. I’d do the recipe again and back off the onion or use a sweet mild type.

Have two more small melons developing. A couple more female flowers, too.

[mama_lor]

Maybe the white ones are not so bitter, I know the ridged light skinned ones as popular in China are less bitter. I found mine very bitter eaten straight, in the chanpuru, so mixed with something, it was fine, it actually was quite a good combination.

@pepperhead212, how did you manage to grow pea eggplant? Mine just flowered now and not yet set any, it was seeded in January. I am afraid I will not get any fruit at this rate.

[pepperhead212]

[mention]mama_lor[/mention] I started harvesting those pea eggplants in late August. One was in a sub-irrigated planter, the other, in the ground, and the SIP produced more, but it was totally rootbound, with a stalk of over 2", and over 8' tall! I probably won't grow them again, given the size and lateness.