Bitter Ground - Tips For Growing Bitter Ground Plant

Bitter Ground:

This herbaceous, tendril-bearing vine grows up to 5 m (16 ft) in length. It bears simple, alternate leaves 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) across, with three to seven deeply separated lobes. Each plant bears separate yellow male and female flowers. In the Northern Hemisphere, flowering occurs during June to July and fruiting during September to November.

Culinary uses

Bitter melon is generally consumed cooked in the green or early yellowing stage. The young shoots and leaves of the bitter melon may also be eaten as greens.

Bitter melon is often used in Chinese cooking for its bitter flavor, typically instir-fries (often with pork and douchi), soups, dim sum, and herbal teas (SeeGohyah tea). It has also been used in place of hops as the bittering ingredient in some Chinese and Okinawan beers.

Bitter melon is a significant ingredient in Okinawan cuisine, and is increasingly used in the rest of Japan. It is popularly credited with Okinawan life expectancies being higher than the already long Japanese ones.

In Indonesia, bitter melon is prepared in various dishes, such as gado-gado, and also stir fried, cooked in coconut milk, or steamed.

In Vietnam, raw bitter melon slices consumed with dried meat floss and bitter melon soup with shrimp are popular dishes. Bitter melons stuffed with ground pork are served as a popular summer soup in the south. It is also used as the main ingredient of "stewed bitter melon". This dish is usually cooked for the Tết holiday, where its "bitter" name is taken as a reminder of the poor living conditions experienced in the past.

In Thailand, the Chinese variety of green bitter melon is prepared stuffed with minced pork and garlic, in a clear broth. It is also served sliced, stir fried with garlic and fish sauce until just tender.

In the Philippines, bitter melon may be stir-fried with ground beef and oyster sauce, or with eggs and diced tomato. The dish pinakbet, popular in the Ilocos region of Luzon, consists mainly of bitter melons, eggplant, okra, string beans, tomatoes, lima beans, and other various regional vegetables altogether stewed with a little bagoong-based stock.

In Trinidad and Tobago bitter melons are usually sautéed with onion, garlic and scotch bonnet pepper until almost crisp.