The Coolness of White Jade Bitter Melon
When Japanese speakers hear “goya,” they tend to imagine a dark green vegetable with a rough, uneven surface.
The bitter melon found in Taiwanese soups looks different.
What stands out in the bowl is a pale, translucent white.
Its formal name is white jade bitter melon.
It is a cultivar refined over a long period of time.
Compared to the green variety, it is thicker, higher in water content, and milder in bitterness.
Once simmered, it no longer resembles a vegetable.
It looks closer to rendered fat or a mineral.
In the soup, it reflects light quietly.
From Southern Curiosity to Accepted Form
Bitter melon is thought to originate in India or Africa.
It reached China around the Ming dynasty, in the fourteenth century.
At first, it was regarded as food from the southern fringes.
It did not easily enter mainstream cuisine.
Over time, its bitterness and cooling quality came to be valued within medicinal cooking.
It was said to reduce internal heat and expel excess from the body.
In Taiwan, where heat and humidity define daily life, this function mattered.
Gradually, a version better suited for soups was sought.
Less bitter.
More moisture.
Able to hold its shape when cooked.
The result was white jade bitter melon, a form shaped by Taiwanese needs.
What Lies Beyond Bitterness
The appeal of bitter melon soup is not simply that it is bitter.
Taiwanese food culture holds a concept called hui gan.
An initial sharpness, followed by a slow return of sweetness.
Bitter melon soup works the same way.
The first sip is unmistakably bitter.
After swallowing, a faint sweetness lingers at the back of the throat.
This delay is what draws people back.
Two Common Forms
The most familiar version is bitter melon with pork ribs.
Fat and umami from the ribs soften the bitterness.
The bitterness, in turn, cuts through the fat.
Neither works alone.
They balance each other.
Another, slightly more committed choice is bitter melon with chicken and fermented pineapple.
The pineapple is salted and aged, not sweet.
Its acidity and salinity cross with the bitterness.
Fermentation adds depth, and the soup becomes more layered.
Choosing to Order It
Children in Taiwan rarely like this soup.
They often ask why adults drink something so bitter.
At some point, the bitterness becomes necessary.
After a tiring day.
When the body feels heavy.
When something needs to be cleared away.
Ordering bitter melon soup is less a change in taste than a response to the body.
