Momordica charantia
Origin: Malta
Improvement status: Unknown
Seeds per packet: 8
Germination tested 10/2024: 92%
Life cycle: Annual
Most people consider bitter melons to be a classic Asian vegetable, and they are indeed widely grown and consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, China, Japan (especially Okinawa), and Korea, but bitter melons actually originated in Africa. This helps explain why they are also very popular in the Caribbean (often under the name "cerasee"), and perhaps why this variety could be found growing in Malta, the island country located in the middle of the Mediterranean, halfway between Africa and Europe.
EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman collected seeds for this variety on a visit to Malta in the fall of 2021. He found the plant growing feral at the base of a drainpipe behind a small building that serves as a market stand at Vincent's Eco-Farm. It was the greenest spot on the farm, as it receives more water than any other spot. Malta was in the midst of a multi-year drought, so most of the other plants growing nearby were common native plants that are adapted to Malta's harsh, dry environment (like perennial wall rocket and squirting cucumber). The field nearby was mostly filled with an okra crop. The farmer, Paulu, said he didn't know the origin of the bitter melon plant growing at the base of the drainpipe, but that it's possible bitter melons were grown on the farm at some point and went wild.
We haven't been able to find any evidence of a long history of bitter melons being grown in Malta, though online dictionaries do offer a Maltese name for the fruit ("Bettieħa morra"), and a lack of online evidence proves little in the Maltese context (Malta also has some enormous local squash varieties, but they have no online footprint). So while we can't say at right now whether or not this variety has deep roots in Malta, we can say definitively that it was grown there at some point and that it managed to establish itself at the base of a drainpipe! We can also say that it produces small-to-medium-sized pale green fruits with the rough and bumpy skin more typical of African, Caribbean, and Indian varieties than their smoother Chinese counterparts. Like other bitter melons, it ripens to bright orange. It is also flavorful (if bitter) and nutritious, with edible and medicinal leaves in addition to the fruit.
Our seed was produced by our friends Skye Harnsberger and Dylan Bruce of Circadian Organics in Ferryville, Wisconsin.
GROWING TIPS: Direct sow on mounds or in rows once soil has warmed in the spring (when you might plant beans or corn). Provide trellis.
