Bitter Melon

Make my Bitter Melon-ade Cocktail

Years ago I would wander around Little Italy and adjacent Chinatown on days when there weren’t as many tourists so I could get more of a feel for what locals sought at their neighborhood markets. Chinatown, in particular, was always interesting to behold given that I am not well-versed in all of the ingredients used in Chinese cuisine. But I wanted to learn.

I’m always mesmerized by the myriad rows of dried fish, mushrooms, and colorful herbs lining the streets at many of the Chinese markets, but entering a new recipe utilizing those ingredients would require more skill and knowledge of cultural recipes than I possess. But fresh vegetables? Vegetables I know! So one late summer day I passed by a market selling what looked like a light green blown-up cucumber. I asked the vendor “what is the green vegetable?” and he responded “bitter melon.” “How do you prepare a bitter melon?” “We make bitter melon soup,” he responded. “It’s delicious.”

Okay, I’m in! I’m thinking, “it must be a green kind of cantaloupe possible cucumber mix and the melon soup it yields will be delightful and refreshing.” I bought several and ran home to search for a recipe for bitter melon soup. (This was before the days of smart phones.) Well, I’m not sure if it was the recipe I found (there were not many posted) or my culinary skills or both, but what I ended-up making was inedible! I was so disappointed. It definitely was NOT a cool green cantaloupe soup (it’s actually a warm soup!), and I was not successful in finding a balance with the ingredients. (If you watch the “Bitter Melons” pilot episode, you’ll see a version of the terrible tasting soup I made inspired by my first attempt.)

Since that time, you can find many more posts on-line about the wonders of the bitter melon. I’m sure there are more recipes for the traditional soup, too. I suspect that one may want to pre-salt the melon to draw out the water along with some of the bitterness. I definitely did not do that the first time. Oops! Regardless, I think I prefer to learn how to make bitter melon soup from someone who has a family recipe. That would be fun!

In the meantime, I’ve learned a bit more about the melon. First of all, it’s not a melon. (No wonder my cantaloupe musings were off-base!) The vegetable is a bitter gourd or squash, and I read that in regions of Asia, developing a taste for its bitterness is a “rite of passage” from childhood to adulthood. I’m not sure of the validity of that statement, but if there is a young person out there who truly enjoys the bitter taste of this melon, that’s an adolescent I want to meet! (The kid probably sucks on grandmother’s alum in the pantry, too!) That said, there is a tradition in Chinese culture to find strength in their ability to “chi ku” or “eat bitterness.” Chi ku is a phrase that means to persevere through hardship without complaint.

There are two different varieties of the gourd: Chinese and Indian. The Chinese variety (found in Chinatown from mid-summer throughout the fall) is typically long, pale green, with smooth long bumps on the rind and rounded ends. Many farmers are growing the Indian variety now (I find these at our local greenmarket and are in the photo you see), and these are shorter, usually a darker green, there are the ends are pointed, and the rind has jagged pointy spikes. Many claim that the bitter melon has medicinal properties, noted especially because it is reported that it lowers blood sugar.

What I find most compelling is that the bitter melon contains momordicin, which is a substance similar to quinine. No wonder the extracted juice from this gourd worked so well with my bitter melon cocktail concoction! Quinine produces the bitter flavor we find in tonic water, and there are several aperitifs which also contain quinquina, many of which are brought to you by our friends at Haus Alpenz. (I will definitely explore some of these bitter liquors in future posts. Stay tuned!)

I hope we’ve intrigued you. Bitter melons are currently in season so I hope you’ll to go to a Chinese market or your local farmer who grows the more unusual and grab a few. Also, if you follow our bitter melon recipe (found here), I guarantee your shaken bitter melon cocktail will delight. It’s so well-balanced, you will not besmirch the bitterness of the momordicin. In fact, you may even feel healthy! (After all, the cocktail is a beautiful citron green…)

Smooches, y’all - !

Constance