Originally Posted by
StuckInYYZ
Bitter melon is quite common in canto-cuisine dishes. As you mentioned, usually with black bean sauce, but helpful with soups and anything "heaty" (bitter melon is considered a "cooling" ingredient in chinese medicine). Steaming them is often nice as well (segment them, hollow them out, put in a mix of pork and fish meat)
My first taste, I absolutely hated it, and vowed to never ever eat it again. Over the years, I suppose, when you work and live somewhere, some of the local customs, habits and superstitions rub off on you; I just kept hearing people around saying, "the stuff you eat, you better start eating some stuff to cool you down." So, I sort resorted to, as I had as a kid, pinched my nose and ate my veggies, however much I disliked them. It just strikes me as unfair since all the good tasting stuff seems to heat you up, not cool you down.
Originally Posted by
StuckInYYZ
It depends on how bitter the eaters can handle. Not everyone likes the bitterness so they temper it down by drawing some of it out. The salt also enhances the flavour a bit. They also freeze better IME. If you stick a bitter melon in the refrigerator for too long they start to spoil rapidly (turn yellow). My parents used to grow bitter melon and often we've have way too much (even after gifting lots)...
I've acquired a taste for it over the many long years, I suppose. However, I still wouldn't sit down and look forward to eating a plate of it, but I was always one of those who naturally never liked the taste of veggies. I read an article or someone tried to posit that I was a supertaster, or something along those lines.