Herbal Teas & Flowers

Wild Bitter Melon Extract

Momordica charantia

Wild bitter melon (Momordica charantia) is a climbing vine with angular stems, downy at the tips, and alternate leaves cut into five to seven toothed lobes. Male and female flowers, pale yellow and about two centimetres across, sit singly in the leaf axils. The fruit is spindle-shaped, 8 to 15 centimetres long and covered in raised warts, yellow-green before it ripens and yellow-pink after. It is the fruit that is picked and cooked, and its bitterness comes from momordicin. The plant is grown across Vietnam, north and south, fruiting from May to July in the north, and grows also in southern China, India, Malaysia and the Philippines.