Bitter melon
The bitter melon, a warty pale-to-dark-green gourd, split, deseeded and cut up for the pot; a salt rub or quick blanch softens the bitterness. In soup it turns tender and mellow, its clean bitter note flavouring pork-rib and dried-oyster pots; it is nicknamed the gentleman's vegetable because its bitterness never migrates to the other ingredients.
TCM properties
Nature · cold Flavour · bitter Meridians · heart、spleen、stomach
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy bitter melon is used to clear heat, relieve summer heat and brighten the eyes, the definitive bitter cooler of the summer table.
Cautions: read first
- Take care if you have a weak, cold spleen and stomach
- Pregnant women in moderation (tradition says take care)
- Take note if you get low blood sugar
Preparation
Split it, scrape out the pith and cut into pieces; if you mind the bitterness, salt it first or blanch it (飛水, a quick dip in boiling water).
Origin
Guangdong (called 涼瓜 there). Stocked by Australian Asian grocers; locally grown
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
Where · Asian grocers and markets; supermarkets in Asian suburbs
What to ask for · The pale knobbly kind is the Cantonese one; the small dark Indian kind is far more bitter
If it is not there · Frozen sliced bitter melon from the Asian grocer freezer
In season · Summer and autumn, roughly December to May
Checked Umall · 2026-08-18
