Herb. No. 200 · Solanaceae
South and East Asian origin; a heat crop from India to the Levant to the American South.
Native · South Asia · East Asia
Native Also grownNow a garden plant worldwide
LegalGentleplant
Eggplant
Solanum melongena
Fruit & vegetableHarvestCompanions
The glossy nightshade fruit of Asian and Mediterranean kitchens — bitter if underripe, silk if cooked with oil.
Eggplant is an East and South Asian nightshade. Traditional Indian, Chinese, and Levantine kitchens cook it with fat, because that is how it becomes food instead of a sponge. Culinary cooked fruit is the path. Tiny seedy underripe fruit is bitter. Leaf is not a tea. European ‘egg-plant’ named a white, egg-shaped form.
Flavor
Mild, smoky when fire-roasted, bitter if seedy and underripe. Oil is not optional.
Parts used
Ripe fruit, cooked
Helpful
- A heat crop
- Beautiful in the row
Cautions
- Flea beetles on young plants
- Raw is not a salad
- Cool summers sulk