Jamaican Cerasee

(Momordica charanta)a Jamaican herb used as blood cleanserCerasee is widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit, and drink is among the bitterest of all fruits. Cerasee is very common in Central Florida, but very few people know the value of this very important herb. This herb may hold the key to a lot of the health problems we face.   The fruit is edible when harvested green and cooked. The taste is bitter. Bitter melon has twice the potassium of bananas and is also rich in vitamins A and C. It is a monoecious climber with dark green, deeply lobed leaves with hairs on it. The dioecious flowers are yellow and the fruits are oblong and lumpy with a light green to greenish-white, waxy skin.

This Asian vegetable is also known as… China:  foo gwa yip, fu gua, fwa kwa, fu kwa, ku gua, jin li zhi, lao pu tao India:  karela, kaveli Indonesia:  pare, pare pahit, paria, peria Japan:  goya, niga uri, reishi, tsuru reishi Korea:  ssunoi Malaysia:  dau peria, daun peria katak, peria, peria katak Philippines:  amargoso, ampalaya, palia, paria Sri Lanka:  karawila Thailand:  maha, mara, phakha Vietnam:  kho qua, la kho qua, muop dang Cerasee comes in a variety of shapes and sizes.  

This was simply growing in my family’s backyard in Florida. No one knew what it was until we did a little research. Who knew. Ahhh. Nature. Everything we need right at our fingertips. Check out what it looks like here. Maybe you have it in your backyard too.