Bitter Gourd?

Bitter gourd which has a scientific name of Momordica charantia; it is called as kugua (mandarin), karela (Hindi), hagala kayi (Kannada), pavakka (Tamil) other than that it is also called as balsam pear, balsam apple, pare and bitter melon.

Bitter gourd is a plant that grows on a tendril bearing vines in tropical conditions like in South East Asia, South America and other countries with a tropical climate. The bitter gourd has a relatively wrinkled appearance and usually it is appears in green, white and orange colour. Its interior is hollow with seeds filling the hollow area of the bitter gourd (The Herbal Resources, 2009). It has a relatively similar texture as cucumber which is crunchy and juicy. Apart from its nice texture it is also highly beneficial:

• It can help lower the blood sugar levels in diabetic patients.
• It is also capable to relief constipation and also effective to treat psoriasis.
• It can also help improve blood circulation plus it is believed to cause slimming effect.
• With regular consumption of bitter gourd it is associated with the prevention and treatment of hypertension.

(Iloveindia.com, 2009)

With the few above mentioned benefits of bitter gourd, the liking towards bitter gourd is still very low due to its bitterness. Hence, this has prompted us to conduct this experiment to help decrease the bitterness in bitter gourd and improve the overall liking towards bitter gourd.

The decrease of bitterness in bitter gourd...

To decrease the bitterness of bitter gourd, of course we need bitter gourd, salt and water.... The method of doing so can be reviewed from the video as below:

The Theory

• There is a simple concept to why the bitterness of bitter gourd is reduced after soaking it in salt solution and the answer is OSMOSIS. Osmosis is the concept in which water moves from a high water concentration to a low water concentration.
• The bitterness in bitter gourd is due to the high concentration of quinine in it.Quinine is an alkaloid compound that produces bitter taste.
• When the bitter gourd is soaked in salt solution the salt solution will draw out water from the the bitter gourd through osmosis.Together with the water, bitter alkaloid compound which is quinine will also be removed. (Lori Alden 2005; Wikipedia 2009)
  

THE THEORY @ EXPLANATION

(1)Can be consider as bitter gourd -Lower salt concentration (hypotonic)
(2)Can be consider as the salt solution -Higher salt concentration (hypertonic)

1. The bitter gourd have a lower concentration of dissolved salt as compared to the salt solution.
2. This means that the bitter gourd can be consider as hypotonic and the medium surrounding it which is the salt solution is hypertonic.
3. So the water will move due to osmosis from the hypotonic condition to the hypertonic condition, this is because it is trying to balance the concentration on both side.
4. Movement of water from the bitter gourd will also carry with it the bitter alkaloid compound thus reducing the bitterness of bitter gourd. (Lori Alden 2005; Wikipedia 2009)

* Soaking in salt solution can only reduce but not eliminate the bitterness in bitter gourd because only a certain percentage of water will be removed from the bitter gourd which means that only some of the bitter alkaloids compound will be carried out together with the water.

Nutrition Content Of Bitter gourd.

After the soaking of the bitter gourd in salt water, the nutritional content decreases slightly. For instance is like the water soluble components like vitamin C... The decrease in nutritional composition is still at an acceptable level because the period of soaking for the bitter gourd in the salt solution is only for a short amount of time that is 5 minutes.

(Council of Agriculture Taiwan, 2008)

The TEST!!!

The experiment was carried out three times at different locations by all the group mates. With the bitter gourd that wasn't soaked with salt water as (A) and the bitter gourd that had been pre-soaked in salt water for 5 minutes labelled as (B) . Both (A) and (B) were cooked in the same manner.

Before soaking the bitter gourd

After soaking the bitter gourd for 5 minutes in salt solution

Result: From the sensory evaluation that was carried out by all the group mates, the result was calculated and a total of 84% agreed that the bitterness in bitter gourd (B) had been reduced compared to bitter gourd (A). However 16% of the panels for the sensory evaluation feels that the bitterness for bitter gourd (A) and (B) is the same.

Additional function of soaking bitter gourd in salt solution

Besides reducing the bitterness in bitter gourd soaking bitter gourd in salt solution can also help for longer storage of bitter gourd.This is achieved by prevention of browning reaction and maintaining the structure of the bitter gourd.

Methods

We did a further experiment in which we placed the bitter gourd for storage.

i) Sliced bitter gourd that is not soaked in salt solution (A)

ii) Sliced bitter gourd that is soaked in salt solution (B)

Results

After one day we observed that the

i) Bitter gourd (A) turns into yellowish brown in color and shrink

ii) Bitter gourd (B) however remains its structure and color.

This is because soaking in the salt water helps to inactivate enzymes that cause browning reaction thus preventing browning in bitter gourd.The salt also helps to preserve the bitter gourd so that it will last longer for storage purpose.

(Lori Alden,2005)

Different cookings of Bitter gourd in different countries.

Bitter Gourd Scrambled Eggs

Materials

1 bitter melon(Bitter gourd), sliced

1 small onion, sliced

1 glove of garlic

1 tsp of olive oil

3 eggs

Methods

1. Cut the bitter gourd lengthwise, scooping out the pit and then sliced them.

2. Soak them in some salt water to reduce the bitterness.

3. Chop up the onions and garlic.

4. Then saute the onions and garlics in some olive oil.

5. Remove the bitter gourd from the salt water and add them to the pan, mixing it in with the onions and garlic.

6. Break the eggs and whisk. Add to hot pan and scramble the egg and once the egg is cooked, stir in the pre-cooked bitter gourd and it is ready to be served.

(SOS-arsenic.net, 2007)

Different cookings of Bitter gourd in different countries.

Stuffed Bitter Gourd Soup

Materials
200g minced chicken
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 big bitter gourd, cut in half and pitted

Methods

1. Soak the pitted bitter gourd in the salt water for 5 minutes to reduce the bitterness.

2. Stuff the gourds with the minced chicken.

3. Meanwhile, heat up the veggie broths to a gentle simmer and add the gourds in. Cook till the bitter gourd is brownish green then it is considered done.

(SOS-arsenic.net, 2007)

Different cookings of Bitter gourd in different countries.

Claypot Chicken with Bitter Gourd

Materials

1 big bitter gourd

100g chicken meat

5 pieces of shitake mushroom

1 1/2 tbs of tau cheo

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 cup of warm water

1 1/2 tsps of dark soya sauce

1 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of sugar

Methods

1. Soak the pitted bitter gourd in the salt water for 5 minutes to reduce the bitterness.

2. Heat oil in the wok and stir in the garlic with tau cheo.

3. Remove the bitter gourd from the salt solution and add into the wok together with the mushrooms and chicken.

4. Add in the water, dark soya sauce, salt and sugar.

5. Heat the claypot while waiting for the gravy to boil in the wok.

6. Once the gravy is cooked, transfer all of contents in the wok into the claypot and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes.

(Mr Wan, 2007)

References

Ø Council of Agriculture Taiwan, 2008. Bitter gourd [Online]. Available from: http://eng.coa.gov.tw/content.php?catid=9436 [Accessed on 28 October 2009].

ØFoodreference.com, 2009. Bitter melon [Online]. Available from: http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-bitter-melon.html [Accessed on 28 October 2009].

Ø Iloveindia.com, 2009. Benefits of Bitter Gourd [Online]. Available from: http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/benefits-of-bitter-gourd-1538.html [Accessed on 1 November 2009].

Ø Lori Alden ,2005. Salt [Online]. Available from: http://www.foodsubs.com/Salt.html [Accessed on 28 October 2009].

Ø Mr Wan, 2007. Claypot Chicken with Bitter Gourd [Online]. Available from: http://my.88db.com/my/Services/Post_Detail.page/Food_Beverage/Lesson_Instruction/?PostID=73289 [Accessed on 28 October 2009].

Ø SOS-arsenic.net, 2007. Bengali Cooking [Online]. Available from: http://www.sos-arsenic.net/english/cooking/cooking.html [Accessed on 28 October 2009].

Ø The Herbal Resources, 2009. Bitter Melon - Health Benefits and Side Effects [Online]. Available from: http://www.herbal-supplement-resource.com/bitter-melon.html [Accessed on 1 November 2009].

Ø Wikipedia, 2009. Osmosis [Online]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmosis [Accessed on 28 October 2009].

We would like to extend our gratitude to these resources that have helped us to complete the blog - assignment.