 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!
11 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."
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?
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.
Av
2/29/2020 02:18:13 pm
Just dont eat them. It is pretty much just safer to not eat them.
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. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm Wendy Kiang-Spray, gardener, home cook, and author of The Chinese Kitchen Garden. Learn more about the book here. Enjoy the blog and be sure to like The Chinese Kitchen Garden Facebook page for notifications when there are new posts. Archives
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