Momordika seeds, Dnepropetrovsk region.

Momordica (Momordica) - Pumpkin family. One-year strongly branched liana, with beautiful carved leaves, up to 2 m high. Fruits up to 10 cm long, with a bitter shade, but pleasant red pulp. When ripening, they become bright orange and crack.

Price for 20 seeds = 10 gr.
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Cultivation: The seeds are sown for seedlings in early - mid-April, one at a time in pots with a diameter of 10 cm. Before sowing, they must be soaked for 24 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Sowing is done on the edge, deepening the seeds by 1 cm. Momordica is a heat-loving plant: the optimal temperature for seedlings is +25 degrees, it is necessary to ensure that the soil temperature does not fall below +17 degrees. To do this, pots with crops covered with a film can be placed near a warm battery. The first shoots appear after 14 - 18 days. Seedlings are watered only with warm water, cold water causes stress in plants and seedlings may die. High humidity, drafts and cold air adversely affect development. Seedlings are planted in the ground in May, after the threat of spring frosts, in sunny areas protected from the wind, as the sycamore tree does not tolerate shading. The soil should be loose and nutritious.

The use of fennel in cooking: fennel contains protein, sugar, carbohydrates, vitamins B, C, carotene, salts of phosphoric acid, calcium. The seeds contain fatty oil. Unripe fruits are used in food: they are salted, marinated, used as one of thecomponents of a curry sauce. To remove bitterness, the fruits are soaked in salted water. The crushed seeds of the motherwort are used asseasoning.

Medicinal properties: Fruits are used to reduce the level ofsugar in the blood, as a means of increasing immunity and are added to tea. Fresh juice from young fruits with the addition of honey is used to treat coughs, and fresh pulp from ripe fruits is applied to sore spots in arthritis and arthrosis. In cosmetology, it is used to prepare lotions and smoothing masks for the face. In folk medicine, crushed seeds of the motherwort are used as a diuretic in case of ulcers. The plant is used in the garden for vertical greening of the walls, it can also be grown on the balcony.