Eggplant might look like an intermediating vegetable if you’ve never tasted it before. Its purple color may give you the impression that it has a strong flavor which might be hard to pair with other food. But in truth, the taste of eggplant is quite mild and pleasant, and it goes quite well with most food items that you might eat every day.
So, are you curious, what does eggplant taste like? Let’s find out.
What Does Eggplant Taste Like?
An eggplant is wrapped with thin purple skin. Under that, there is some meaty part and at the center, there are the seeds.
The skin does not taste that pleasant. When cooked it has a smooth texture, and if eaten raw it could have a slightly bitterish taste.
The meat of the seeds of the eggplant is the part that should be eaten. While raw eggplant does not taste pleasant, when it is cooked properly, it has a mild and bland flavor that can soak up any other flavor you put in it. The seeds are small and fun to chew, which is the main appeal of eating eggplant.
Depending upon the method of cooking the texture of eggplant can be very different. Slightly cooked eggplant has a bit of rubbery texture, so, when it is fried cover with a batter, it can be quite interesting. The crispy exterior and chewy and springy interior make a quite good snack.
Well, cooked eggplant is soft and the seeds add a little bit of crunchiness. The texture makes it quite good to be made into a mashed dish. The taste has similar notes to other vegetables like zucchini or ladyfinger, although, eggplant doesn’t have the slimy texture of a ladyfinger.
Why You Should Eat Eggplant
Eggplant is not just good at tasting good, but it is also full of vitamins and other nutrients and should be eaten if you want to be healthy. Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, magnesium, thiamin, and folic acid are just some of the nutrients in eggplant that make it good for the health of your entire body.
From your bones to your brains, eggplant can help it all. Eggplant is rich in fiber, which can help you digest your food better and it can help you lose weight easily. So, if you are looking to lose some extra pounds before a special occasion, you could eat eggplant more.
Eggplant is supposed to be really good at keeping your heart healthy. Additionally, it can help you control the level of sugar in your blood. And if that’s not good enough to convince you to start eating eggplant, the fact that it can also help fight cancer should be enough.
Eggplants have a compound called SRGs which, when tested on animals shows a promising result of being able to cause the death of cancer cells. It could have the same effects on humans. Moreover, eating eggplant could also reduce the risk of developing certain kinds of cancer in people.
How to Make Eggplant
There are many ways to elevate the taste of eggplant to make it flavorful and decadent. You can fry thin strips of eggplants coated in the batter to make a crispy and a bit chewy snack. It tastes a little bit like fried zucchini and it is more delicious than it sounds.
If you prefer to have it as a dinner or lunch dish instead, then you can either roast, grill, or bake them. Roasted and grilled eggplants are quite delicious when it is cooked right.
You could remove the skin if you want, but even if you don’t it is not going to be an issue. The skin is quite edible, and it gives the eggplant dish some extra texture.
You can also try some exotic dishes that involve the use of spices to make the eggplant a little more exciting. Since the eggplant is good at soaking up flavor, it could be a perfect base for a spicy dish.
When Should You Not Eat Eggplant?
Seeing all the health benefits, you’d probably want to eat as much as a plant as possible, but you should know some things before you start eating it.
While it is true for most food that you can get the most out of the nutrients when you eat them raw, in the case of eggplants, eating it raw isn’t the best thing to do.
The eggplant is a part of the nightshade family, and as a part of this family, it inherits a compound named solanine. In large quantities, solanine can be poisonous and even lethal.
Even in smaller amounts, eggplant is not safe to eat. It could cause discomforting symptoms like nausea or vomiting, and even diarrhea. That’s why eating raw eggplants should be avoided at any cost.
Apart from this, some people are allergic to eggplant. People with eggplant allergy experience a slew of symptoms from itch to swelling of the throat when they eat eggplant, even when it is properly cooked.
If you are one of these people, then it should go without saying that you should avoid eating eggplant. If you have never eaten eggplant before and don’t know if you are allergic or not, you can try eating a very small amount. If you experience any itch on your skin or throat or feel your throat swelling up, then you should immediately stop eating it.
Conclusion
If you are lucky enough to be not allergic to eggplant, you should definitely add it to your diet. Make sure to cook it before you eat though. You can try any of the methods we mentioned, or try to look for more recipes on the internet, there are so many available.
Because of the mild and adaptable flavor of eggplant, it is really easy to cook and so people are having fun experimenting with a variety of recipes and cooking methods. You could be one of them and try to make up recipes of your own too, who knows you might end up making something really unique and great.