Bitter Melon Seeds - Jamaican Cerasee, karela

This variety of Bitter Melon Seeds, known as Jamaican Cerasee, is a type of Asian gourd that produces warty, green, and tapered fruits. These fruits typically grow to be 8 to 10 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, and are found on cucumber-like vines. As an annual plant, it has a growth cycle of 80 days and is non-GMO, heirloom, and open pollinated. Additional names for this plant include Balsam Pear and Foo Gwa.

Jamaican cerasee seeds are highly nutritious and used in health remedies. They are a versatile vegetable rich in potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C with dark green leaves and yellow flowers.
Variety of names: Bitter Melon, Balsam Pear, Bitter Gourd, Karela, Chinese Bitter Melon
Around the World : Cerasee (bitter melon) has been used in various Asian and African traditional medicine systems for a long time.

Cerasee is a versatile, bitter vegetable that is used in many cuisines, including Filipino and Chinese dishes. It can be eaten boiled or sauteed, or enjoyed as a refreshing drink or tea. The young shoots and leaves can also be consumed as greens.

In Jamaica, cerasee is used as a traditional herbal tea with potential health benefits including blood pressure regulation, blood sugar control, digestion improvement, pain relief, detoxifying, and skin cleansing.

In Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaican Cerasee (bitter Melon) are typically prepared by sautéing them with onion, garlic, and scotch bonnet pepper until they become nearly crispy, while in Jamaica they are commonly consumed in liquid form for medicinal purposes.
Cerasee,(bitter melon) a key ingredient in Okinawan and Japanese cuisine, is also gaining popularity in the Philippines. Studies show it may contribute to higher life expectancies in Okinawa, and it can be prepared in various dishes such as stir-fries with ground beef and oyster sauce, or with eggs and diced tomato. 
In Indian cuisine, bitter melon seeds are used in various dishes such as sabji, thoran/thuvaran, theeyal, and pachadi. They are often paired with potatoes and yogurt to balance out the bitterness, or stuffed with spices and cooked in oil. Other popular recipes for Cerasee include curry, deep fried with peanuts, and pachi pulusu soup. In Tamil Nadu, it is also used in the special Brahmins' dish 'pagarkai pitla' and the popular 'kattu' curry stuffed with onions, lentils, and coconut.

In Pakistan and Bangladesh, it is often cooked with onions and red chili powder. turmeric powder, salt, coriander powder, and a pinch of cumin seeds. Another dish in Pakistan calls for whole, unpeeled Cerasee to be boiled, and then stuffed with cooked ground beef, served with either hot tandoori bread, naan, chappati, or with khichri (a mixture of lentils and rice). 
Medicinal Uses
A tea made of the vine is used for diabetes, hypertension, worms, dysentery, malaria and as a general tonic and blood purifier. It is also very effective to relieve constipation and colds and fevers in children.
Women in Latin American use the leaf for menstrual problems to promote discharge after childbirth.
The tea is taken for 9 days after giving birth to clean out and tone up all the organs involved in the delivery. Cerasee is also used as a natural method of birth control, by taking two cups each day after intercourse, for three days. It is said that women who drink Cerasee daily will not conceive during that time. As a wash, the tea is used externally for sores, rashes, skin ulcers and all skin problems. A Cerasee bath is good for arthritis, rheumatism, gout and other similar ailments.

Today folks in the Caribbean still use cerasee as a blood cleanser; bush bath for beautiful skin; and for diabetes, cancer and other infectious diseases. We also use it for all types of stomach complaints including griping or pain in the stomach, amoebas and intestinal parasites and as a laxative. Research confirms these benefits by documenting the anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic properties within cerasee.

In Turkey it has been used as a folk remedy for a variety of ailments, particularly stomach complaints. The fruit is broken up and soaked in either olive oil or honey.The plant contains several biologically active compounds, chiefly momordicin I and II, and cucurbitacin B.
The plants contains also several bioactive glycosides (including momordin, charantin, charantosides, goyaglycosides, momordicosides) and other terpenoid compounds (including momordicin-28, momordicinin, momordicilin, momordenol, and momordol). It also contains cytotoxic (ribosome-inactivating) proteins such as momorcharin and momordin.
Diabetes: In 1962, Lolitkar and Rao extracted from the plant a substance, which they called charantin, which had hypoglycaemic effect on normal and diabetic rabbits. Another principle, active only on diabetic rabbits, was isolated by Visarata and Ungsurungsie in 1981. Cerasee has been found to increase insulin sensitivity. In 2007, a study by the Philippine Department of Health determined that a daily dose of 100 mg per kilogram of body weight is comparable to 2.5 mg/kg of the anti-diabetes drug glibenclamide taken twice per day. Tablets of Bitter Melon extract are sold in the Philippines as a food supplement and exported to many countries.Other compounds in Cerasee have been found to activate the AMPK, the protein that regulates glucose uptake (a process which is impaired in diabetics).
GROWING
Full sun/light shade; rich moist soil. Plant in frost free areas since bitter melon is very sensitive to frost. Do not water too much.
In cooler climates start planting in pots 6 weeks before the frost free date; transplant when there is no more danger of frost.
Culture
Full sun/light shade; rich moist soil. Plant in frost free areas since bitter melon is very sensitive to frost. Do not water too much.
In cooler climates start planting in pots 6 weeks before the frost free date; transplant when there is no more danger of frost.