Can bitter melon be eaten raw once it is fully ripe?

Bitter melon is a common vegetable; its fruit tastes sweet and bitter and has effects such as clearing heat and detoxifying. So, can bitter melon be eaten raw once it is fully ripe?

1. Can bitter melon be eaten raw once it is fully ripe?

Bitter melon can be eaten raw once it is fully ripe. Eating it raw is better for absorbing water-soluble nutrients such as vitamin C and carotene, because these components cannot withstand high temperatures; if they are cooked at high heat, part of the nutrients will be lost.

2. The benefits and effects of bitter melon

1. Clearing heat and detoxifying

Bitter melon can dispel irritability and heat from the heart and remove toxins from the body. The best way to eat bitter melon is still as a cold salad. A cold salad can very well preserve the vitamins contained in bitter melon. If it is stir-fried plainly, these vitamins will be lost in large amounts during the stir-frying process, and after plain stir-frying the oil content is relatively high; after people eat it, they will take in more oil and fat, and it cannot play the role of cooling and reducing internal heat.

2. Beautifying the face and smoothing the skin

Regularly eating bitter melon can enhance the vitality of the skin and make the skin delicate and healthy. Using fresh bitter melon mashed into juice or decocted as a soup is an excellent auxiliary food therapy for red eyes due to liver fire, stomach pain, and damp-heat dysentery; taking fresh bitter melon, mashing it and applying it externally can treat swollen abscesses and boils; in summer, children are prone to prickly heat, and wiping the prickly heat on the body with sliced bitter melon can help it heal sooner; bitter melon boiled in water or made into food can dissipate heat and relieve summer heat.

3. Lowering blood sugar

Clam meat and bitter melon soup is a top-grade dish for lowering blood sugar. The crude extract of bitter melon contains substances similar to insulin and has a clear blood sugar-lowering effect. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that bitter melon is sweet and bitter in taste and cold and cool in nature, and can clear heat, relieve irritability, and quench thirst; clam meat is sweet and salty and cold, and can clear heat, nourish yin, quench thirst, and promote urination. Used together, they clear heat and nourish yin, and are suitable for people with diabetes who tend toward stomach yin deficiency with heat.

4. Nourishing blood and the liver

Bitter melon tastes bitter; raw it is cold in nature, and cooked it is warm in nature. Eaten raw, it clears summer heat and purges fire, and relieves heat and irritability; eaten cooked, it nourishes blood and the liver, moistens the spleen and tonifies the kidneys, and can remove pathogenic heat, relieve fatigue, clear the heart and brighten the eyes, and boost qi and strengthen yang. But when eating bitter melon, attention should also be paid not to damage the qi of the spleen and lungs. Although the summer weather is hot, people should not eat too much bitter-flavored food, and it is best to pair it with pungent foods (such as chili peppers, pepper, scallions, and garlic); this can avoid bitter flavor entering the heart and helps tonify lung qi.

Although bitter melon has many benefits, it is cold in nature, and eating it will produce a certain coldness in the body. It should not be eaten in large amounts, and it is also not recommended to drink it every day, so as to avoid worsening the coldness in the body, causing spleen-stomach coldness, and triggering symptoms such as gastrointestinal discomfort.