How To Get Bitterness Out Of Eggplant

Have you ever spent time lovingly cooking a dish with eggplant only to taste a mouthful of bitterness and horror? Well, I've been in that location too. And I wanted to find out what makes eggplants bitter and how to make sure I never eat a bitter eggplant once again. Read on to find out more than.

What Makes Eggplants Biting?

To become sciency for a minute, eggplants incorporate Anthocyanins which are a type of phenolic chemical compound and they are responsible for making eggplants bitter. But what you really need to know is that eggplants get biting equally they age and become old. So the more fourth dimension eggplant sits around on the supermarket shelves or at abode without beingness used, the more bitter it will get.

If you want to avert a bitter eggplant, give eggplants that are off-colour, wrinkly, and squishy a big miss. Instead, look for eggplants that are all the same firm with glossy and smoothen peel and proficient color.

Eggplants are best cooked and eaten when they are freshly harvested. So you are more likely to notice fresh eggplants are farmers' markets or y'all can try growing your own eggplants (you tin can read our article on growing eggplant hither).

Is it ok to Eat Bitter Eggplant?

The good news is that you can eat bitter eggplant. It'southward prophylactic to eat them simply… practise you actually want to? Biting eggplants are unremarkably overripe, one-time, or quite maybe starting to rot. So although it is okay to eat them, they won't taste very good.

Is the Skin or the Flesh of the Eggplant Bitter?

Eggplant Slices - What Makes Eggplants Bitter

The skin and the flesh of the eggplant tin can both be the culprit for its bitter taste. The skin can exist bitter if the eggplants are large and old. Its skin becomes thick and rubbery then. That is why it's important to select the smaller and younger eggplants for eating.

The flesh tin be bitter too because of the anthocyanin compound found in the flesh of the eggplants. The older the eggplants, the more than information technology accumulates this compound causing them to be biting.

Older eggplants also have larger and mature seeds which tin can be the crusade of its bitterness. The seeds hold in most of the bitterness. So, the larger and mature the seeds are, the more than bitter it is.

How to Become Rid of the Bitterness in Eggplant

No matter how carefully we select eggplants, sometimes we tin't just get abroad from the bitter ones. And then here are several means to aid you get rid of the bitter taste in eggplants.

Peeling the Eggplant Skin

Peeling Eggplants - What Makes Eggplants Bitter — Peeled eggplant on the grill

The skin of eggplant has the almost antioxidant content, that'south why it's best to selection the younger eggplants with thin, glossy, and vibrant skin.

However, if you take an older eggplant, peeling the skin tin can assist reduce the bitterness as the skin contributes to its bitter taste. Skin the eggplants merely right before using them.

Salting Eggplant

Salting is one of the most common methods known to get rid of the bitterness in eggplant. This process helps draw out the moisture in eggplants and lessens its bitterness.

Cut or slice the eggplant into your desired shape and sizes, then sprinkle a generous amount of salt over the eggplant pieces. Leave it for about 30-60 minutes, then gently rinse it off and bleed before cooking.

After salting, the eggplant will expect less spongy equally the salt helps take out the excess liquid and caves in the air pockets making the pieces firmer. This process can besides assistance the eggplant absorb less oil while cooking them.

Soaking Eggplant in Milk

Another method of taming the eggplant'southward bitterness is soaking the pieces in milk.

After slicing the eggplant, soak the eggplant in milk for thirty minutes earlier cooking. Bleed the milk off and prepare as normal.

Every bit the eggplant absorbs the milk, information technology can make your eggplant more tender and creamier.

Removing the Eggplant Seeds

Remove the Seeds from Eggplant - What Makes Eggplants Bitter

Removing the seeds of the eggplants is another method to get rid of their bitter gustatory modality, peculiarly if you don't have the time to salt or soak them. If yous have an older eggplant, the seeds concord in nigh of the bitterness.

Firstly, piece the eggplant lengthwise and then scoop out or scrape out as many seeds every bit possible from the mankind. And so cut or slice them every bit needed.

Will Cooking an Eggplant Have Away the Bitterness?

Cooking tin can tame the bitter taste of the eggplant but it doesn't totally get rid of it. It'southward a dominion of thumb though to properly cook eggplant as nether-cooked eggplant may contribute to a bitter taste.

If yous are cooking eggplant in soups or curries, the bitterness tin can be counterbalanced out with the other ingredients and spices. However, in sautés, stir-fry, or grilled eggplants, the taste is focused and full-bodied on the eggplant and the biting taste is much noticeable.

In this case, it's ideal to prep information technology well, taking out every bit much wet equally possible from the eggplants earlier cooking them.

Storing Eggplants

Eggplant is different from other garden fruits and vegetables that tin can exist stored for longer periods of time. To retain eggplants quality and taste, it'due south best to use eggplant correct subsequently harvest or subsequently buying them.

If y'all want to store them, wrap them in a paper towel and store them in a container or plastic bag in the fridge and use them within v-7 days. If the eggplants are really fresh, they can even so exist good for upwards to 3 weeks.

At room temperature, eggplant tin can be stored for ii-4 days.

Eggplant can be also be frozen to final up to 6 months. It's best to steam or blanch the eggplant showtime.

When to Toss and Discard Eggplant

Old Eggplant - What Makes Eggplants Bitter — Old eggplant – skin is tedious and starting to shrivel

Remember eggplant is all-time used when it's freshly harvested. A few days after harvesting or buying the eggplants, they will outset to deteriorate.

And so check the eggplant before using it and discard any that have gone bad. Rotten ones volition prove rotting spots on the peel, it might smell a fleck off and the texture can exist soft and squishy.

Also, if the stem right above the cap is turning brown and developing mold, it's time to toss out your eggplant.

You lot can also try to cut the eggplant, if the mankind turns dark-brown correct abroad, or it'southward slightly slimy, information technology's all-time to discard it.

Some of My Favorite Kitchen Items:

Nutrient Processor
Stick Blender
Blender for Smoothies
Food Thermometer
Preserving Saucepan
Juicer

Farther reading:

Easy Eggplant Chutney Recipe
Miso Eggplant Recipe With Peanut Topping
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Why are Burpless Cucumbers Called Burpless?
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Why is my Eggplant Flowering Simply No Fruit (Causes and Solutions)
Why Is My Cantaloupe Sour? Answered!