Karela aka Indian Bitter Melon

[Mike Buckley]

This fruit, which grows on a vine and is completely new to me, apparently has many names mostly depending on which part of the world it is grown in. The grocery store I bought it at calls it Indian Bitter Melon. After doing just a tiny bit of research, I learned that the Hindi name is Karela.

Setups
First Photo: The background and tabletop are a single sheet of dark green art paper. A small continuous-light lamp fitted with a diffusion sock to soften the shadow is behind, above and to the right of the subject. A white reflector in the left front area brightens the front of the subject. A polarizer controls the glare on the tabletop.

Second Photo: This is a macro photo of the same piece of fruit though cut to display a cross section. The background is the same sheet of art paper used in the first photo. The same, small, continuous-light lamp but with the diffusion sock removed is on the right side of the subject, raking light across it to display the texture. It is flagged to prevent too much light from falling on the background. A polarizer was used again but this time to control glare on the subject, not the paper.

[Wavelength]

Very nice; did you mean Kerala ?

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Nandakumar!

did you mean Kerala ?

Kerala is the spelling of the state. The fruit is spelled Karela.

[Rita]

An interesting looking fruit. How does it taste?

[Mike Buckley]

I have added a macro photo of the cross section of the fruit to the first post in the thread.

Rita: My guess is that it tastes bitter, but the name may have been invented to throw us off. Seriously, I haven't tasted it yet. I'll look up some recipes and perhaps give one a try.

[Wavelength]

Thanks, Nandakumar!



Kerala is the spelling of the state. The fruit is spelled Karela.

Yess; but this is a new info for me; here we call it "kayppakkai+ = kayp + kai = bitterness + fruit; this is a very regular one in Kerala; why, we have it planted in almost every house. It is used for many curries, fries, deep fries etc. Very bitter that you can't eat it raw.
NB: we call it bitter gourd; 'bitter melon', is new to me.

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, John!

Thanks for the heads up, Nandakumar, not to try eating it raw. It certainly looks and feels like a gourd and not at all like a melon.

[Manfred M]

Nice images. We saw lots of those at the Russell Market in Bangalore, but as it is not something we normally eat, we did not try any.

It looks a lot more refined sitting in your studio, versus the way they were laid out at the produce vendor's stalls. I suspect you paid a lot more for that sample than the local Indian prices.

I'll have to go back to my market shots to see if I got any shots of it. It was certainly not call a Karela; I see it is called a Hāgala in Kannada (the language spoken in Karnataka State of India).

[bje07]

As usual nice setup explained and very nice results.

[bnnrcn]

+1 to Jean

[Mike Buckley]

As always, thanks to everyone!