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Egg Plant
Scientific Name: Solanum melongena
Family: Solanaceae
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Eggplant belongs to the Solanaceae (potato family) and is said to have originated in India. No wild plant, however, has ever been found, or if it has it is now unknown, so that the cultivated eggplant seems to be an improved form of either Solanum insanum or Solanum incanum, both species being native to India. The existence of Sanskritic terms referring to this plant show that it has been known in India since very early times. Unknown to the Greeks and Romans, it appeared in Europe in the fourteenth century, probably via Africa, where its cultivation was supposedly introduced and spread in the Middle Ages. In the thirteenth century it was mentioned by an Arab physician. Furthermore, modern travelers now find the eggplant growing in the region of the Nile and in Guinea. From Europe its cultivation spread to America. Old documents show that it was cultivated in Brazil in 1658. In Italy the eggplant appeared toward the end of the fourteenth century, and by the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had spread throughout the country. The classic areas of growth are around the Mediterranean, as a warm climate is needed, and it is therefore not well known in the north. It is still grown in the warm regions of India and also in Japan, and in North and South America. Its cultivation requires warmth and constant and abundant irrigation. In addition, the eggplant is very hardy and is not usually afflicted either by parasitic insects or disease. It is a perennial plant, but is cultivated as an annual, growing to about 24 inches; the stem is lignified at the base; the leaves coarse, ash-gray, whole or simply lobed, sometimes spinescent on the main rib. The flowers are star-shaped and very beautiful, of a typical blue-violet color, with five sepals and five petals and the stamens joined at the center of the corolla. The edible fruits are large berries, varying in shape from round to oblong, and in color from white to purple. They contain numerous seeds for which reason the fruit should not be allowed to become overripe; the fruit is attached to the plant by the fruit-stalk and the persistent calyx, both of which are often covered with sharp spines which can hurt one's fingers. Eggplants can be cooked in numerous ways, but cannot be eaten raw. Two classic recipes for aubergines are "Ratatouille" from Provence, and "Imam Bayeldi" ("Swooning Imam") from Turkey. Ratatouille is a vegetable stew of coarsely chopped aubergines (eggplants), onions, zucchini, red and green pimentos, garlic, and a few crushed coriander seeds, cooked in olive oil. To make Imam Bayeldi the aubergines are stuffed and simmered slowly for 3 hours in olive oil which should almost cover them. They are then left (with the lid still on the pan) to cool for 24 hours, and eaten cold as an hors d'oeruvre. The story goes, that when his thousand wives served this dish to him, the imam swooned with ecstasy. It is certainly a delicious way to prepare eggplants. They can also be sliced, lengthwise or transversally, and breaded (or tossed in flour) and then fried. A very famous dish is eggplant parmesan, a combination of eggplant, tomato, cheese, and oil. Before cooking, sliced eggplants should be sprinkled with salt and left, covered, for 30 minutes to draw out the excess water. They must then be thoroughly dried in a cloth. Eggplants are not very nutritious, the solid residue being only about 8%. Protein 1%; carbohydrates 3%; no lipids. Some authorities claim that the unripe fruits may contain potentially dangerous amounts of solanine, and therefore should be avoided. However, this is not the normal practice. On the contrary, the young fruits which are much more tender than the ripe ones, taste far better. The cooking process is believed to eliminate the solanine. Some of the better varieties are Barbentane eggplant, Giant New York eggplant and Chinese eggplant. [Bianchini, Francesco, Corbetta, Francesco, Pistoia, Marilena, The Complete Book of Fruits and Vegetables, United States Translation: Crown Publishers, New York, 1976; Originally published in Italy as I Frutti della Terra, Arnoldo Mondadori Publisher, Italy, 1973]