Ripe Now! Bitter Melon | Feeding our Community

Ripe Now! Bitter Melon

'Tis the season for the Cucurbitaceae family! This plant family includes some excellent foods, such as gourds, cucumbers, and melons. Within this family is a very special food, the bitter melon (also known as bitter gourd)! If you haven't seen a bitter melon before, it's like a funky-looking cucumber with an intricate skin. It grows on a vine and is typically harvested when the plant is green with a slight yellow hue. When the plant is fully ripe it bursts open on the end, exposing the large, red seeds inside.

It has a crunchy and watery texture, like a cucumber. To prepare the bitter melon for cooking, you can cut it lengthwise and scoop out the inside and slice it (the thinner the slice, the less bitter it will be). You can also boil it for about a minute to reduce bitterness and create a softer texture. This fruit is both beautiful and bitter-tasting (just like the name says) and popular in Asian, Indian, and Caribbean dishes, often used in stir fries, herbal teas, salads, and soups.

Bitter melon is known for its medicinal properties, and there is even some preliminary scientific research involving the fruit in cancer prevention, diabetes treatment, and HIV and AIDS infections (note: not recommended to be consumed by pregnant women). You can learn more about the health benefits here . There's a whole lot to be said about this Cucurbitaceae fruit, and it's available now at our Tuesday market at Lou Vue and our Saturday market at Vang Family Farm .

Easy Eating: To get your day going, try out this bitter melon juice with ginger, honey, and lemon recipe . For lunch try this classic Vietnamese dish, stuffed bitter melon soup . You'll be grateful to try out this quick, tasty, and healthy bitter melon stir fry with fermented black beans for dinner time! And finally for a nightcap, end your day with a warm glass of bitter melon tea .

Storage Tips: You can store bitter melon in the crisper drawer in your fridge for up to a week. Keep away from apples, potatoes, pears, and other food that produces ethylene gas because it will cause the fruit to ripen quickly.

Recipe: Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup

This recipe is from Jeanette at the blog Wok & Kin. Jeanette's blog celebrates her Chinese and Vietnamese heritage with recipes inspired by her family.

Ingredients

For the filling:

500 g ground pork
150 g fish paste
10 g rehydrated sliced woodear mushrooms
4 rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, sliced
25 g soaked green bean thread noodles
40 g shredded carrots
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
3/4 tbsp sugar, or to taste
2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
3 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup water

For the soup:

3 bitter melons, halved and hollowed
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Instructions

Mix the pork, carrot, woodear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, fish paste and green bean thread noodles together with the sugar, chicken bouillon powder, salt, fish sauce, water and sesame oil.

Use the back of a spoon to fill the bitter melons with the filling until full. Bring the broth to a boil and add the stuffed bitter melons in along with the chicken bouillon powder, fish sauce and salt. For any leftover filling, use a spoon to scoop up small balls and add it to the soup. When it reaches a boil again, lower it to a simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Serve hot as is!

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Feeding our Community

Looking beyond our own tables to those of our neighbors, you will find the food support systems that have long been a part of the Berkeley Farmers' Markets. We pioneered the single point of sale system for supplemental food assistance program beneficiaries, like CalFresh EBT (formerly known as food stamps), which is now used at farmers' markets across the state. And we administer federally funded Market Match funds for EBT beneficiaries, which effectively stretches beneficiaries' food budgets by an extra $10 each visit. Supporting your local farmers' markets not only ensures your access to fresh, healthy food, but also it helps your neighbor in need gain access too.

We invite you to join us in helping to support those in our community who are food insecure, and to do what wise and caring people have always done, give to support the institutions and endeavors we believe in and wish to preserve for ourselves and for others.

Please note "Berkeley Farmers' Markets" on your donation.

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See you at the farmers' markets!

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Plastic Free July Solutions Salon

Saturday, July 25

11:00 am - 1:00 pm PT

Online

Join the Ecology Center and a variety of local community partners for a virtual Salon to discover solutions on how to make plastic-free living a reality. From grocery shopping and personal care to reuse programs and sustainable fashion and gardening -- join us, for tips, demonstrations, and plastic-free ideas to inspire your zero waste efforts! RSVP here: Plastic Free July Solutions Salon

Creating a Plastic Free Future: A Story of Plastic Virtual Film Screening & Panel Discussion

Thursday, July 30

6:00 - 7:30 pm

To wrap up Plastic-Free July, watch The Story of Plastic at home July 28-30, then join our panel of experts on 7/30 for a discussion that will move beyond the problem of the plastics crisis and instead focus on opportunities and strategies towards solutions! RSVP here: Creating a Plastic Free Future

Farmers' Market Hours & Locations

EBT and WIC Fruit & Vegetable checks gladly accepted and Market Match incentives distributed at all markets.

South Berkeley

Tuesdays, 2 - 6:30 pm

Adeline St. at 63rd St.,

Berkeley

North Berkeley

Thursdays, 3 - 7 pm

Shattuck Ave. at Vine St., Berkeley

Downtown Berkeley

Saturdays, 10 am - 3 pm

Center St. at MLK Jr. Way, Berkeley

510.548.3333 | [email protected] | ecologycenter.org/fm

[Photo credit: Berkeley Farmers' Market Staff ]