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Produce Info, Storage Tips and Recipes

Eggplant

Eggplant

The Basics

The eggplant (also known as "aubergine" in British English) is technically a fruit that is closely related to both the tomato and potato. While usually purple skinned, eggplants come in a wide variety of colors, including white, yellow, green, black, and even orange. Eggplant generally has a bitter taste when raw, but develops a rich, complex flavor when cooked. (Read more on Wikipedia.)

Preparation

Wash eggplants before cooking and trim off the stem and cap. Eggplant can be cooked with or without its skin and can be baked, boiled, grilled, fried, sautéed, or steamed.

Some cooks like to salt eggplant before cooking to extract bitterness and draw out some of the vegetable's moisture. To do this, slice the eggplant and generously season with salt. Let the slices sit for about 20-30 minutes and then rinse and pat dry. In general, only the larger eggplants might need salting, since they can sometimes be more bitter than the smaller varieties.

Storage Tips

Eggplant is easily damaged by severe cold, storing it in a plastic bag towards the door of the refrigerator seems to work well.

Nutrition

Eggplant is a very good source of dietary fiber, manganese, potassium, copper, and thiamin. It is also rich in phytonutrients which have antioxidant activity and also promote cardiovascular health. (Read more on World's Healthiest Foods.)

Recipes

Baba Ganouj
Curried Tofu, Eggplant, and Kohlrabi with Green Jasmine Rice
Grilled Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich
Grilled Vegetables with Rosemary-Goat Cheese Polenta
Indian-Spiced Eggplant Cauliflower Stew
Roasted Eggplant Soup
Thai Basil Eggplant