BITTER MELON ARTICLE


Here is a VIDEO

VIDEO OF JUICING BITTER MELONS


Someone get these and try. I think they are Asian stores?






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2015 10:07PM by suvine.

I put them in the Vitamix for smoothies and soups, along with everything else, all the time. When they are on sale I buy big batches and slice, dehydrate, and powder them for later use in just about any recipe.

I have juiced them. They are so bitter, so I buy the smallest, cutest ones I can find and add one to a juice that contains sweet apple or something similar.

We use them for diabetes in Chinese medicine. The dried slices are often cooked as a tea.

I have eaten them cooked in Chinese vegetarian restaurants. They usually stuff them. They really aren't that good cooked. Pass!

They are so abundant where I live that juicing is the simplest way to consume them.

"They really aren't that good cooked. Pass!"

I don't know what the Chinese do with them but before I went raw I cooked them using South Indian recipes and they were fabulous that way. My favorite recipe used them diced with ground white poppy seeds (which makes a delicious gravy), freshly ground ripe coconut meat, spices, mustard seeds, and mustard oil. The crunchy dehydrated slices of bitter melon are floated in soups like croutons are in the West.

I would never have thought to combine bitter melon with sweet fruits. I always have them savory and spicy style as I do with other foods with bitter flavors - like dandelion greens for instance. That way I can use a lot more without spoiling the taste. Yesterday I put half of 9" long bitter melon in my soup and couldn't even taste any bitterness so tomorrow I'll use a whole large one my soup.

SueZ, thanks for the education. Indian food tastes amazing. I never had indian flavored bitter melon. I guess it must taste good. Well, some of the buddhist vegetarian restaurants abstain from many spices, hence their food is more bland.

I personally always mix sweet with bitter when it comes to raw food (especially living in California with an abundance of both sweet fruit and bitter greens/ veggies), but your soup recipe sounds good.

Tai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SueZ, thanks for the education. Indian food tastes
> amazing. I never had indian flavored bitter melon.
> I guess it must taste good. Well, some of the
> buddhist vegetarian restaurants abstain from many
> spices, hence their food is more bland.
>
> I personally always mix sweet with bitter when it
> comes to raw food (especially living in California
> with an abundance of both sweet fruit and bitter
> greens/ veggies), but your soup recipe sounds
> good.

Tai, I have heard that almost all Indian restaurants in the US serve Northern Indian cuisines. I much prefer the foods from more southern Indian myself.

Incidentally, up until recently I've found it impossible to find Asafoetida that was wheat free but now Starwest has come out with a powdered wheat free blend that's 40% Asafoetida and 60% Fenugreek. I just opened the bag to taste test it for this post and am delighted. It tastes very fresh so for those who like authentic dishes that include Asafoetida I highly recommend it!

Aren't bitter melons super high in zinc or something?

Ah, not crazy high, but pretty good:

1 cup cooked (from Fitday)

Zinc 12% RDA
Vit C 54% RDA
B6 18% RDA

I never found them that bitter, quite tasteless. Maybe my tastebuds are shot Wasn't totally sure what I should be doing with them either. Maybe they'd cheer up a salad, add some texture.

SueZ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Incidentally, up until recently I've found it
> impossible to find Asafoetida that was wheat free
> but now Starwest has come out with a powdered
> wheat free blend that's 40% Asafoetida and 60%
> Fenugreek. I just opened the bag to taste test it
> for this post and am delighted. It tastes very
> fresh so for those who like authentic dishes that
> include Asafoetida I highly recommend it!

Love asafoetida. I can remember the first time I had a curry where that was used instead of onions and garlic. I was sold

What makes BITTER MELONS special is that they are among the highest source of phytochemicals.

[healthyeating.sfgate.com]

[scialert.net]

DO you guys like HING???


HING

HING


Its like a powder that is a garlic substitute

bluespixie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SueZ Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Incidentally, up until recently I've found it
> > impossible to find Asafoetida that was wheat
> free
> > but now Starwest has come out with a powdered
> > wheat free blend that's 40% Asafoetida and 60%
> > Fenugreek. I just opened the bag to taste test
> it
> > for this post and am delighted. It tastes very
> > fresh so for those who like authentic dishes
> that
> > include Asafoetida I highly recommend it!
>
> Love asafoetida. I can remember the first time I
> had a curry where that was used instead of onions
> and garlic. I was sold

Bluespixie, if onions and garlic aren't against your religion you can use them together with Asafoetida. There are many great recipes I have used that do just that. I just tried them together along with bitter melon, chlorella, etc., and it made a great high zinc containing raw soup. 2T. of chlorella are said to contain 66% of the daily requirement for zinc.

The gluten free Asafoetida from Starwest tasted just as good as any recipe I've had with cooked Asafoedida so I'm very happy to have found it and to start adding it into my raw recipes!

That curry I mentioned was in a Hare krishna restaurant But no, I have no probs with onion and garlic myself. What did the soup taste like? You had me until I read the chlorella bit, and it was then I was uncontrollably sick...

JK Don't mind chlorella, just have to have stuff like that by itself or I find it ruins the food.

Suvine - hing/asofoetida are the same, right?

OH YEAH HING AND that last word are the same.


See I know some stuff.

Next time in organic market buy some guys. Its a good taste, hing.

bluespixie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That curry I mentioned was in a Hare krishna
> restaurant


I bought an official Hare Krishna cookbook - right before I went raw.

>But no, I have no probs with onion
> and garlic myself. What did the soup taste like?


It was pretty heavy duty. I'll leave the chlorella out next time ...


> You had me until I read the chlorella bit, and it
> was then I was uncontrollably sick...


You got that right. Back to the water half of the chlorella goes. 1 T. I can hide behind the garlic, etc., 2 T. I couldn't.

suvine

does the HING thing also taste like garlic
if so, does the person's breathe end up smelling like garlic too
and scaring away all their friends including vampires?

NO I dont think its that bad, it is one of those things hard to explain, like the taste of durian...



mmm
durian, lets talk more about durian.