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Bitter melon!

Go for it!

Nails into the side of the house
Nails into the top rail of the fence
String a few lines in one direction, on a diagonal
Start a line in the crossing direction. Where it crosses the other lines, wrap it once around.
Continue, adding a couple of lines in one direction, then a couple in the opposite always wrapping once at each cross until you are done.

The standing part is 2x2 lumber and wire fence cabbled together and jammed in the ground. Also there are a few supports connecting it to the fence for stability.

Easy peasy, bitter melon squeezy. Now a bonus pic of this year's sprouts.

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Bitter melon does a funny thing as a sprout that I haven't seen with other plants. The seedling pops up wit h2 little "ears" like a cucumber or other squash, then it puts out 2 leaves...but these are not true leaves! The next leaves, and all the rest on the plant have a different shape from those first two. So are the little ears considered the cotyledons? or are those first two semi-true leaves the cotyledons...I don't know?
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At the bottom you can see the little oval leaves. The next tier are the first leaves to pop...notice how they are much different from the leaves above them (which is the normal adult shape).
 
Okay... i broke down and I am soaking some foo gwa, as we call bitter melon here, seeds to plant tomorrow!! Woot woot... gotta rig some sort of trellis... such a great idea. :party:
 
Been reading this and must say I would like to try eating some again, the last time I had some I was serving in Vietnam, and had some with pork and rice, I thought it tasted quite bitter and wondered why people liked it so much it took about 6 beers before I got the taste out of my mouth.  I'm not sure if it was cooked right or not, but the pork was really good.
Bakers Creek has two or three types along with wax and fuzzy melons, I don't have a lot of space, but one or two plants might work out.
 
The only way I've had it is pickled! its awesome that way.

chop it up and put it in vinegar for about a week,
then get some pickle masala powder. You can find that at indian shops...and I mean asian indian..not american. mix that through the pickled bitter melon. put it all in a jar and then top up the jar with oil.

I do that with chilies and other vegies. Its really good stuff.
 
its known as goya in Japan.
Ive been tempted to grow it because the plants look really cool.

However, i cant stand eating goya. my wife loves it though.
 
I am not to crazy about bitter melon, but I can eat it stir fried with tomatoes in a scrambled egg.  It's very healthy
for you.  Pickled is really good.  I've learned about bitter melon here from the large filipino population we have.
I've also learned how to make a few tasty filipino desserts.
 
georgej, you can grow some for your wife.  It is a pretty vine and the yellow flowers are fragrant.
 
About the only way for me to get some is to go buy the seeds and grow it myself and look up ways to fix it, it a you know what thing when you live in a small midwest town where if you talk about Asian food people look at you like your crazy I'm a inplant, but have lived here for 30 years now. When I want Asian I have to drive 60 or more miles just to get good Chinese food and forget Vietnamese or Thai. I still miss living on the Westcoast at times Fresh ocean fish and shellfish, Asain and Indian stores, and Huge famers markets.
Oh well I've got the internet to find what I want, and can order seed for plants and peppers.
 
roper2008 said:
I am not to crazy about bitter melon, but I can eat it stir fried with tomatoes in a scrambled egg.  It's very healthy
for you.  Pickled is really good.  I've learned about bitter melon here from the large filipino population we have.
I've also learned how to make a few tasty filipino desserts.
 
georgej, you can grow some for your wife.  It is a pretty vine and the yellow flowers are fragrant.
Click to expand...
Next year maybe, its all about peppers this year!
Alot of people grow them over their windows here, for some shade and a bit of privacy
 
what about the wild ones that grow on my fence? what do you make of those? are they edible? i've been seeing these things for years never knowing what they were. 
 
I suppose a "wild" bitter melon vine would be just as good as one intentionally planted. I imagine it grows like a weed in Florida. It's not native to this continent, so any you see are from somebody's kitchen trash at some point in the past.
 
this is what the ones that grow in my yard look like: http://www.evergreenseeds.com/bimehybado.html
 
i'm gonna try to grow some intentionally, in some good soil, and see what happens. i read that you don't want to eat them when they are ripe, or they can cause all kinds of gut problems. i also read that the wild ones might be less edible than ones that aren't ripe, but it didn't really explain why. 
 
Those are the Indian variety, with the more spiky exterior. I have never heard of any recipe using the ripe gourds. Even with the green ones, we always scrape out the seeds and guts in the middle before use.
 
here's some i just picked yesterday. they are not very big. i have ordered some seeds that i am gonna try to grow. got some chinese and some indian varieties. can't wait to try them. not sure if i'm gonna eat these wild ones...
 
IMG_1209_zps38141dc2.jpg
 
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