You can substitute it for spinach in any recipe where you will cook the spinach. Health Nut's Rainbow Dream Serves: 4 - 5 By: Roosebelt Balboa Ingredients: 2 teaspoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1/4 cup sibuyas Tagalog (native onions), sliced 1/2 cup tomatoes, sliced 1-1/2 cups water 1/2 cup ube (purple potato), cubed 1 large carrot, cubed 1 cup broccoli, chopped 1 small eggplant, thinly sliced 1/2 cup sitaw (yardlong beans), cut into 2-1/2 inch pieces 2 teaspoons bagoong alamang (shrimp paste) 1 siling labuyo (hot chili pepper) 1 tablespoon dayap (native lime) juice 1 cup alokon flowers and young leaves 1/2 cup malunggay (horseradish) leaves 1/2 cup ampalaya (bitter melon) leaves Cooking Method: Saute garlic and sibuyas Tagalog in hot olive oil in a large saucepan. When garlic is brown and sibuyas Tagalog is transparent, add tomatoes and water. Boil for 2 minutes. Add ube and cook over medium-high heat for 9 minutes. Add carrots, broccoli, eggplant, sitaw, bagoong alamang, siling labuyo and dayap juice and stir. Cook for 3 minutes on medium heat. Toss in alokon and cook for 2 minutes. Stir. Add malunggay and ampalaya leaves and cook briefly until wilted. Serve with rice. Here is a link that might be useful: Recipes using Bitter Melon Leaves aka ampalaya

Good Morning, I have some egyptian walking onion bulbs. I usally would sell these on e-bay but we had a fire in the kitchen and have been forced to move. Please e-mail your address and how many you want. Thanks, Rosanna

To save seeds from bitter melon, they must be allowed to ripen on the vine. Seed from bitter melons picked green will not be viable, even if the melon appears to ripen later. When ripe, they turn orange or yellow & split open. The seeds will be clearly visible, surrounded by a sticky, bright red pulp. If some fall on the ground, no problem... the pulp & any dirt attached to it will be removed during cleaning. If the red pulp is fairly dry, you can just place the seeds on newspaper to dry, preferably under a fan (ceiling fans work well for this). When the pulp has dried, it can be peeled off easily, leaving clean seed. If the pulp is very wet (like those I grew this year) or if there are a lot of seeds, you can clean them in a colander under running water. Rub the seeds between your fingers to remove the pulp. When cleaning seeds in water, be sure to dry them promptly. Regardless of the method used to clean the seeds, they must be fully dry before storage. For me, this is easy; I leave them in trays on shelves until December or January, when the indoor humidity is low. All of my seeds will be dried to the proper moisture level at that time. For those in warmer, more humid climates, or if the home tends to have humid air, ambient drying may not be enough. The seeds can be further dried with a dehydrator, or by the use of desiccant gel in a sealed container. If using desiccant, a good rule of thumb is to weigh the seeds, and use an equal weight of desiccant. Once the seeds have been properly dried, they can be placed in any air-tight container for storage. Store them in a cool, dark location.

I love the leaves of bitter melon. Can I just root the leaves in water and use when I want to eat it? I live 100 miles away from purchasing bitter melon and most times they do not have the leaves. I just planted 3 vines but would love just to have the leaves. The dirt in this yard is super hard and full of rocks and stones. I live on a rocky mountain. I once rooted the vines in rooting hormone then stuck them in a planter with dirt. They grew wonderfully. But the rooting hormone said it is poisonous to eat anything that had been started with the hormone, so I never at it. If I just left the vines in water and picked it as needed for my chicken soup, would it continue to grow all year? Thank you Affinity