How to cut: Bitter Groud

Bitter groud, also known as bitter melon, is a tropical vegetable-fruit grown in Asia, African and the Caribbean. In Japanese, you call it "Go-ya", and mostly appears in the Okinawa cuisine. It is known for its health benefits and is also used as medicine, as it consists of huge amounts of nutrients, especially Vitamin C, Vitamin A and Vitamin B-6.

How to cut this vegetable might be puzzling at first with its "sponge". But it's actually very easy, and I personally find it satisfying and fun! I could also say that it's pretty similar to cutting bell peppers:

First, you cut off the edges and slice them into half. As you can see, the middle is a "sponge" filled with seeds, which is not edible.

The easiest, fastest and most enjoyable way to remove this middle part is to scrape it off with your thumb!

After the middle is removed, you just need to slice them into whatever size you'd like. Very simple, right?

The bitter taste might be strange at first, but is very addictive! The most common way to cook bitter groud is the Okinawan stir-fry dish, "Go-ya Chanpuru". It could also be fried, marinated, or put into miso soups.

Recipes using bitter groud:

Goya Chanpuru

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