Bitter melon is used mostly in Asian and Indian cooking; its
health benefits on diabetes and other diseases has been known for centuries. Other names for bitter melon include: foo qua, balsam pear, or bitter gourd.

The bitter melon has been highly publicized lately throughout the media as more health professionals and more studies (both national and international) are confirming the amazing attributes of this marvelous plant that is so easy to grow and its ever increasing recognition as an aid in controlling or helping those suffering with diabetes 2.

What is Bitter Melon?
Bitter melon (Momordica charantia) is actually a member of the squash family.It is a strange looking gourd that resembles a cucumber with a rough, pockmarked skin. The flavor is also unusual - like cilantro, it's an acquired taste. Fortunately, blanching bitter melon before cooking will help reduce the bitter taste. (You can also de-gorge it as you would with eggplant). When first picked, a bitter melon is yellow-green, but as it ripens, it turns to a yellow-orange color. The inside of the melon is filled with fibrous seeds.

What are the health benefits of bitter Melon?
With limited scientific supports, bitter melon is general believed to benefit diabetes. In a study, researchers from University of Bologna, Italy, asked 720 herbalists what herbal remedy that they would recommend to those suffered from diabetes.

They suggested ten herbal remedies and bitter melon is in the list. According to a review article, bitter melon has been recognised as a Chinese herbal medicine for diabetes mellitus for centuries. And, it is more popular in Asia to be used as a natural product for diabetes.  Researchers from Natural Standard, MA, consider bitter melon an alternative therapy that has primarily been used for lowering blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Components of bitter melon extract appear to have structural similarities to animal insulin. Bitter melon has been shown to have anti-viral and anti-neoplastic activities.

http://www.zhion.com/herb/Bitter_Melon_benefits.html

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/glossary/g/bittermelon.html

What products of bitter melon in the market?
Bitter melon leaves, fruits and seeds are used to prepare tea. Some
manufacturers blend bitter melon and green tea leaves to produce a
refreshing and cooling effect.

However, its fruits and seed are mainly used to prepare supplements, as they are believed to contain more "anti-diabetic properties".

While these products / supplements may or may not be beneficial the consumption of bitter melon as a fresh vegetable would stand to reason to be of a more natural substitute and a more acceptable way of introducing bitter melon into your health regime.

These many links provide further insight into bitter melon

http://www.articleclick.com/Article/Health-Benefits-of-Bitter-Melon/927263

AND MORE STILL……………………………

Scientists have uncovered the therapeutic properties of bitter melon, a vegetable and traditional Chinese medicine, that make it a powerful treatment for Type 2 diabetes.

Teams from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica pulped roughly a tonne of fresh bitter melon and extracted four very promising bioactive components. These four compounds all appear to activate the enzyme AMPK, a protein well known for regulating fuel metabolism and enabling glucose uptake. The results are published online today in the international journal Chemistry & Biology.

Please read on for further on this article………..

http://www.garvan.org.au/news-events/news/a-tonne-of-bitter-melon-produces-sweet-results-for-diabetes.html

KENDALL FARMS is now introducing to the Australian market their range of health plants and herbs and the bitter melon is our ‘flagship’ product as it has so much potential

Now available for you to grow at home – pick your own fresh bitter melon for consumption and fight the dreaded Diabetes 2

Bitter melon need a lot of sun. So find the sunniest spot in your garden. Also make sure you can provide a structure for them to climb on. These are vines, which like to climb up and spread around. Unlike watermelons, they won’t fruit well if they are allowed spread on the ground. Bitter melons are really easy to grow. If you have good soil, then all you need to do is to make a planting pit by loosening up the soil for about two feet in diameter and about one and half feet depth. Bitter melon also grow successfully in pots and will be successful from the far north in Queensland dow to the southern coast of NSW and some parts of Victoria and SA.

NOTE: Bitter Melon needs insects to carry out the pollinating process for setting fruits. If the insects are not available in your area, the pollinating process can be done manually, by picking up male flowers and transferring pollens (face-to-face touching the center part of flowers) to female flowers. Female flowers have a fat section between the flower and vine stem. This process should be carried out when flowering is active during the daytime. If the pollination is success, the fat portion will grow into full size fruit.

However the manual phase is rarely needed as the insects tend to like pollinating the bitter melon-and if you do grow other fruits in your surrounds this will not be a problem.

SOIL requirements: Well drained sandy loam, rich in organic matter, and if growing in the ground make sure it is planted into a mound. pH optimum is 6.0-6.7 so most soils will be OK.

Kendall Farms will send you one of our bitter melon plants in a 140ml pot ready to transfer into either a growing pot (minimum size 40cm) or the ground which should begin producing fruit for you within 70 days (complete with instructions and growing tips)

$12.50 per plant (inc GST) plus $6.50 post / handling

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