Eggplants – I love growing them and I love eating them. Makes sense, right? I wouldn’t enjoy growing them if I didn’t enjoy eating them too. But they’re an awesome, versatile vegetable that goes well in a number of dishes. If you’re new to eating eggplant, or maybe thinking about picking up your first eggplant ever from the grocery store, you might be wondering: what does eggplant taste like?
It’s a fair question. Eggplants aren’t the most commonly eaten vegetable around, but I’d like to change that starting today. Let’s talk about eggplants!
What does eggplant taste like?
Eggplant’s flavor is dependent upon how you’ve prepared it. If you were to pull an eggplant off the vine or out of your shopping cart and take a big bite out of it, you will find yourself with a mouthful of spongy, slightly bitter, but kind of pleasant vegetable matter. Most people aren’t wilding out at the store and taking a straight bite out of these guys though, and I don’t think I’d recommended going that route because eggplants are so much better cooked.
When cooked, eggplants lose most of that bitterness and take on a pleasing, warm, rich flavor. Cooked egg plants are less spongy than raw eggplants and tend to be a lot softer and creamier.
Eggplant fact: it is a commonly believed misconception that raw eggplants are unhealthy, poisonous, or deadly. They aren’t! You can chow down on raw eggplant if that’s what’s in your heart.
How to choose an eggplant
If the above description sounds appealing to you and you decide you want to get one for dinner tonight, you’ll want to know how to choose an eggplant. Pick one that feels firm and heavy. The skin of the eggplant should be glossy and without blemishes. Don’t buy an eggplant that has damaged skin, bruising, or discoloration. Or at least don’t pay full price for one like that.
Cooking eggplants
Eggplants can be prepared a number of different ways. There are many recipes that include it. They can be baked, grilled, braised, cooked, and even pureed. My favorite way to cook an eggplant? Grilling it! Grilled eggplant is savory, almost sweet, a bit firmer than squishy, and the smoked flavor from the charcoal is just out of this world.
Keep Reading: How To Grow An Eggplant
