What is the Red Stuff in the Bitter Melon?

8/26/2017

In this photo, the insides have just begun to redden and sweeten. In another week or two, all the white pith will change into the red goopy treat that you can eat like cool, sweet, fruit!

Have you ever cut into a bitter melon and found bright red goop inside? Yes, it is edible!

The bitter melon is nicknamed "magic melon" because of numerous health benefits (see last week's post), but I think the transformation that happens inside as the fruit matures is also a bit magical. As you may know, the usable part of the bitter melon is the green, bumpy outside part. See the spongy white part inside? We scoop it out and discard it. However, as the melon matures, the spongy white stuff turns into goopy red stuff and here's the best part - it's sweet!

It's always a fun surprise to cut open a bitter melon to find the insides have begun to turn red. The texture is a bit like roasted red pepper and it is sweet and edible. Just be sure to spit out the seeds when enjoying this little treat!

16 Comments

George Vander Dussen

11/9/2018 08:13:07 pm

My wife and I are experimenting with bitter melon for the first time tonight. We cut one open and were astonished to discover the red seeds. We wondered whether it was okay to eat. Your blog post answered our question. Thank you for the information.

Mike B

8/27/2020 01:07:16 pm

My employee is out for a week with poisoning from consuming bitter melon tea. Probably from the ground up seeds. Bitter melon is reported to help with lowering blood sugar, but the research isn't clear. The Cleveland Clinic among others does not recommend eating large amounts of bitter melon, particularly regular use to treat medical conditions, because of the potentially dangerous side effects. Please do your own research. Ah...just read Amy's post below...thanks Amy, you're right.

Socgem

4/24/2021 04:41:03 am

Red seeds means it's fully riped , seeds are hard to digest remove the red part and rest you can cook and eat. Avoid bitter guard in dinner time, day time you can eat it. Avoid every day eating or juice unless you are diabetic. Cook with spices to get better tasty and healthy benefits. Use indian spices a bit you gonna like it.

f u c k

5/6/2019 12:38:27 am

F u c k

Amy

7/27/2019 04:56:34 pm

Beware: This is what Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has to say: "Ingestion of the seeds of bitter melon can cause toxicity to red blood cells, which includes headache, fever, abdominal pain, and coma."

Also read this:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/494350-is-bitter-melon-poisonous/

Vicki

9/2/2019 06:51:53 pm

Re: winter melon: We, too, found the red flesh inside and are preparing to stir fry the winter melon. We are taking care to eliminate the seeds during stir-fry prep and then to be very careful when we chew. We have never encountered the red flesh before, or the hard seeds, either. Are the hard seeds particular to more mature melons?

Papa link

9/9/2019 07:03:10 am

Yes, as the red fleshy part develops, the seeds harden as well.

Nikhil Wadhwa

4/4/2020 03:13:59 pm

Hello, if you will go through the internet, you wont be able to eat anything in this world. Everything has a Side effects if consumed beyond the limit. So please be smart and use common sense. No one has ever died of eating bitter melon seeds. God Bless you.

Melanie

10/22/2019 03:54:36 pm

I eat the sweet red outside of seeds, also like to munch on the seeds. I also save the white cottony inside of immature bitter melon and snack on it. I don't think it tastes bitter like the rest of the melon. I guess I should stop these practices if they are eventually toxic.

2/29/2020 02:18:13 pm

Just dont eat them. It is pretty much just safer to not eat them.

Jonathan Shaw

8/10/2022 08:08:11 am

And yet, bitter melon is eaten in many countries around the world, especially in Asia, and has well documented heath benefits. It’s not useful to write panicky, alarmist messages like this. This site like others provides useful links to allow people to make up their own minds.

Mina

6/22/2021 04:12:26 pm

I've always cooked the bitter melon with the seeds inside. The red ones, I wasn't sure of. I might discard the red ones after reading the info above and previous comments.

Edris Cooper

9/15/2021 09:06:07 pm

I just ate some of that red pulp and Im not dead! They were delcious. The reason to eat them is delicious taste and healthy benefits.

Hans

3/16/2022 03:36:22 am

Bitter melon is a staple food on Okinawa. People live a long time there. They call it goya.

The concerns about toxicity comes from misquoting Sloan-Kettering information about bitter melon used as a medicine. What they actually say is this:
"Toxicity: Ingestion of vicine from the seed may cause headache, fever, abdominal pain, and coma."
mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/bitter-melon
So not ingestion of the seeds, but the molecule vicine in the seeds.

They nowhere says that eating the seeds themselves is harmful. They do not say that the ripe seeds are toxic, and nor the layer around them. Instead what they say is this:
"Although bitter melon is consumed as food, ingesting the seeds, extracts, and large quantities of juice can cause adverse effects."
So in fact they concur with Nikhil Wadhwa.

The only firm warning that they do have is this:
"Bitter melon should be avoided if you are pregnant, as animal studies suggest it can cause developmental abnormalities."

Their case list of poisoning from bitter melon concerns stomach problems from drinking considerable amounts of juice. They mention half a litre in a day in one case. If you have stomach problems already this juice can make it worse.

To get a medicine out of the seeds, they must be dried, powdered, and an extract prepared, such as an infusion or tea. That will concentrate up the vicine and if then used as a regular tea instead of the medicine it has become, vicine poisoning is likely, as in the case reported above by Mike B.

Steve

9/22/2022 08:46:27 pm

I ate one I grew and that had begun yellowing and had red around the seeds. I cooked in a stirfry curry type dish. I didnt remove any part and ate the seeds. I did have pretty intense vomiting, diarrhea, and headache the following day. And nausea to the point I couldnt eat or drink anything without throwing it up immediately for most of the day… Its strange there are so many conflicting reports I know some say they consume all parts with no problem. Just a personal account that mwy be helpful for people. So I would use caution— likely the seeds. This was just a single melon so not an extremely high quantity or anything.

Bertz

4/30/2023 10:32:29 am

Thanks for your personal first hand report, not gossip or hearsay.
We love bittermelon. We scrape out and discard the inside pulp. Then we chop up and juice the skin only with tomato, cucumber, celery and carrots, delicious. Also stirfry with pork, bellpepper, tomato and onion, yum.

The Chinese Kitchen Garden Blog

What is the Red Stuff in the Bitter Melon?

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