team member: Nancy
location: E. Cliff Dr. Santa Cruz, CA
Team member: Cathy
"Chinese bitter melon"
Campbell Farmer's Market 7-11-10
We were going to post some of the hunt pictures as inspiration. It is obvious you guys do not need any.
Momordica charantia is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown for edible fruit, which is among the most bitter of all fruits. Names for the plant and its fruit include bitter melon, bitter gourd (translated from Chinese: 苦瓜; pinyin: kǔguā), goya from Japanese or Karela/Karella, ampalayá from Tagalog, and cerasee[1] (Caribbean and South America; also spelled cerasse).
The original home of the species is not known, other than that it is a native of the tropics. It is widely grown in India and other parts of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, China, Africa, and the Caribbean.