If an eggplant’s skin is getting withered and wrinkly, or if the fruit (yeah, eggplant is technically a fruit) is notably soft or squishy, or it just has soft spots anywhere, it’s rotting. If the stem is browning or developing mold – or if there’s mold anywhere else on it – it’s also time to discard the eggplant.
Although you’d have to eat a significant amount of raw eggplant for the effects to be lethal, Glatter said eating raw eggplant can still lead to nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Bruising. It’s also safe to eat an eggplant with bruises, even though the brown spots don’t look very appealing.
Generally, you should aim to choose ones that are fully ripe or almost ripe. That means the vegetable should be quite firm to the touch, but not super firm, and definitely not soft. When choosing, make sure to check for bruises and soft spots.
Eggplant flesh will have tan to brown colored spots around the seeds. … If the flesh is more brown than white, the eggplant may be spoiling and should be discarded.
Ripe eggplants should be firm but not hard. Flesh should be white with a slight green tint (orange eggplants ripen orange/green inside). If you are unsure of your eggplant’s ripeness, cut one crosswise and check the seeds. They should be clearly visible.
Properly stored, eggplant will usually keep well for about 5 to 7 days in the refrigerator.
The brown area is caused by sun scalding. If the scalding is not too severe, it can be removed and the eggplant eaten. … Poor-quality eggplant fruit are generally associated with low moisture and high temperature conditions. Also, overmature eggplant fruit will become dull colored and often develop a bronze appearance.
Blight in eggplants on established plants is evidenced by gray or brown, oval or round spots on the leaves and stems. The center of the spots lighten in color, and you can see circles of small black, pimple-like dots that are actually the fruiting bodies, or spores.
The earthy, tangy and bittersweet aroma of eggplant had been my initiation rite from childhood onwards to the mystique of “grown up food” and its acquired taste delights. … Aubergines especially were among my very favourite, an unusual trait for a child, as the vegetable is bitter by its nature.
Grill, roast, or fry—and always cook thoroughly
Eggplant is one vegetable for which slight undercooking will not work. It must be completely cooked through until it’s meltingly soft, smooth, and creamy; only then will it be flavorful on its own, as well as receptive to the other flavors with which you’ll blend it.
It feels slightly firm. If you press your finger against the eggplant, it should have a little give to it and bounce back, but not be as soft as, say, pressing your finger against a ripe piece of fruit. If it feels very soft, that means that the eggplant is old and overripe.
The best place to store eggplant is not in the refrigerator, but at room temperature, where it’s likely to last longer. … And if you insist on keeping your eggplant in the fridge, limit it to no more than three days, and use it soon after removal.
In any event, your eggplants are edible regardless of color, though specimens that are yellow because they are overripe will not have the best taste as would an eggplant picked at the peak of ripeness.
The partial or almost total change from purple to brown is a normal occurrence for older plants carried over for more than one season. With this change comes a bitter taste, Stephens said. The alkaloid solanine, found in plants of the nightshade family builds up to give the off- flavor.
The cooking time for roasted eggplant slices is about 30 minutes at 400 degrees F. You want them golden and soft. The cooking time may vary if your slices are much larger or smaller than 1/2 inch, as I recommend here.
Eggplants are part of the nightshade family. Nightshades contain alkaloids, including solanine, which can be toxic. Solanine protects these plants while they are still developing. Eating the leaves or tubers of these plants can lead to symptoms such as burning in the throat, nausea and vomiting, and heart arrhythmias.
Putting salt on the eggplant triggers osmosis, which draws out excess moisture and the bitterness along with it. … Pressing the eggplant also collapses some of the eggplant’s air cells, so it absorbs less oil if it’s sautéed. When heated, eggplant tissues generally collapse quickly due to their high moisture content.
False, raw eggplants are not poisonous. … Vegetables in the nightshade family contain anywhere from 2 to 13mg of solanine and eggplants contain 11mg at the most. So you would have to eat 36 raw eggplants to cause any harm. Therefore, there’s no need to be concerned about eating reasonable amounts of raw eggplant.
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