Bitter melon

This vegetable is also known as balsam pear, foo gua, and balsamina. I consider this light to dark green, bumpy, scaly, cucumber-like squash, with its characteristic rat’s-tail stem, to be the King of Bitter. Bitter melon is never eaten raw. Instead, it is salted to leach out its excess bitterness and then fried, stir-fried, or stewed with assertive spices.