Eggplant is a relatively new endeavor for us; we love all sorts of veggies but have been put off by eggplant for various reasons. Lately, though, we've been really enjoying it roasted - especially in pureed dips like baba ghanoush.
One of the last batches turned out to have an unpleasant, astringent bitterness, and we went looking for answers to our very own good question. Why did it turn out so bitter, when previous batches of roasted eggplant have been sweet and smoky? Read on for some of the answers we came up with...
• Let the "bitter juice" drain - We made an especially sweet batch of baba ghanoush late one evening after roasting the eggplant in the afternoon and letting it sit out for hours until we got around to it. This may have inadvertently let all the bitter juices collect and drain out. The bitter batch was pureed warm, directly out of the oven.
We did one more batch and this time let it cool completely, pressing out the juice into the sink before we pureed it. This was very good and had a much sweeter taste.
• Smaller is better - Smaller, more slender eggplants, like Chinese eggplants, tend to be less bitter.
• Go seedless - We like the texture of the tiny seeds in an eggplant, but removing a few of the tougher layers of seeds after roasting can also cut down on bitterness in the finished dish.
Do you like the bitterness of eggplants? A friend prefers them more bitter than sweet. Or do you have other ways to get rid of that astringent taste?
(Image credit: Mariquita Farm)
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i have the same question about cucumbers. i prefer to leave the peel on because that's where the nutrients are. but sometimes the skin is so awfully bitter. my mom used to complain it was the pesticides my grandmother used in her garden, but now that i have my own garden, it's organic...and they're still bitter sometimes.
In my experience, the only bitter eggplants I've encountered had been left on the vine too long. I've never salted and drained eggplant, unless I'm frying it for sandwiches, and haven't really noticed any bitterness. Maybe because my family and I grow our own?
I've also gotten the impression that the lighter the colour of the eggplant, the less bitter it is. Chinese eggplants less bitter than regular ones, white eggplants even less bitter still.
With eggplant, all you have to do is slice it, sprinkle it generously with salt on both sides, and let it sit in a colander in the sink for awhile. Soon a brown liquid will form on the top - this is the bitterness. Rinse it off and pat dry and you are good to go.
i'll hazard a guess that the bitterness is in the skin, esp the thicker skin of non-greenmarket eggplants. i char off the skin for most of my eggplant recipes and i've never had any bitterness issues. the charring's also nice because it gives the dish a wonderfully smokey flavour,
The bitterness does come from the meat, specifically the seeds, which is why asian eggplants, less mature eggplants, and the "male" eggplants are less bitter. Males are the ones with the round indent on the bottom of the eggplant as opposed to a deep "dash" of the female eggplants.
You can either salt and wait, then rinse as Sisero suggests, or let drain after roasting.
Alton Brown just featured the eggplant and described exactly what Rog said, except of course he had to use "scientific" words, apparently the bitter stuff in the seeds are called "alkaloids" and needs to be drained out.
I AND MY FAMILY HAVE MADE EGGPLANT-BASED DISHES FOR YEARS - MY MOTHER LOVES BBQ'D EGGPLANT, IN FACT. BUT THE KEY IS TO GET RID OF THE BITTERNESS BY PRE-SALTING, LETTING STAND, RINSING AND PATTING DRY.
THE BITTER JUICES ARE FROM THE ALKALOIDS, WHICH ARE CONCENTRATED IN THE SEEDS AND THE MEAT OF THE EGGPLANT. THE EGGPLANTS BECOME RICHER IN ALKALOIDS - MORE BITTER - AS THEY MATURE. THE KEY IS THIS;
1. CHOOSE MORE SLENDER, YOUNGER EGGPLANTS. TEXTURE AND TASTE WILL BE BETTER....LESS SPONGY/STRINGY, LESS BITTER. CHINESE /JAPANESE EGGPLANTS ARE ALSO GOOD. ALSO, LOOK FOR THE MALES, OVER THE FEMALES - ROUND INDENTS IN BOTTOM OF THE FRUIT VS, THE FEMALE 'SLASH/SLIT' IN THE BOTTOM OF THE FRUIT. MALES HAVE LESS SEEDS THAN FEMALES AND ARE LESS BITTER.
2. SCOOP OUT THE LARGER SEEDS. YOU CAN USUALLY DO THIS EASILY BY HALVING EGGPLANT, THEN USING A TEASPOON - SCRAPE THE TIP OF THE TEASPOON DOWN THE EGGPLANT LONGITUDINALLY - LONGWAYS - TO SCRAPE OUT 'STRIPS' OF LARGE SEEDS.
3. SLICE AND SALT EGGPLANT. LET STAND. THE BROWNISH JUICES THAT EMERGE SHOULD BE DISCARDED. RINSE EGGPLANT AND PAT DRY. BEST METHOD - SALT AND LET STAND IN A COLANDER, SO THE FRUIT ISN'T SITTING IN THE BITTER JUICES. EGGPLANT ARE SPONGY AND TEND TO REABSORB LIQUID IF THEY SIT IN IT.
COOK AND ENJOY.