Whatever the color, eggplants have their virtues

In a way, it doesn’t matter that there are so many types of eggplant, and that so many of them are so beautiful. Once they’ve been cooked, they lose their looks, especially if you are making classic eggplant dishes (caponata, ratatouille, parmigiana, pizza). 

For those kinds of recipes, you might as well be using the big, dark egg-shaped globes. Why waste a delicate tubelike Japanese eggplant, with its lovely lilac skin and its gentle curving tail if you’re just going to chop it up and roast it until it melts?

Well, there is a reason, actually: The more exotic versions are apparently less bitter, at least according to the websites of eggplant growers — who list the attributes of their many wares. The lack of bitterness is a big selling point.  

But that sweetness comes with a price, of course (what doesn’t?). The more bitter an eggplant, the more cancer-fighting antioxidants it has. The lighter-skinned fruits have less of those free-radical-defeating phenolics. 

That’s not a huge surprise. One thing we’ve learned in recent years is that the most richly colored fruits and vegetables tend to be the ones with the most antioxidants.

Some websites claim that the bitterness develops as the plants become very mature and that the larger the eggplant, the more bitter it is. 

One website said that female eggplants are more bitter than males because they carry more seeds; it’s too tempting to make that a metaphor, so I’ll just ignore it. 

But the most scientific explanation does seem to be the one that links the bitterness to the color and the phenolics. I actually got that information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture website. The site says that the most nutritious of all the eggplant varieties is one called Black Magic, which is the most common variety found in America.

The USDA website also notes, however, that more research needs to be done so that a variety can be developed that has these phenomenal phenolics but also has the wonderful sweet flavor (and beauty) of some of the heirloom and exotic eggplants.

This summer, thanks to Sol Flower Farm (which has been in residence at the Silamar farmstand in Millerton), I’ve been lucky enough to sample a wide variety of beautiful and delicious eggplants. There are the lovely long and lean Japanese and their darker Chinese cousins. I’ve had at least two types with lovely lavender and white stripes. The one I got today was plump and roundish, like a giant peach, with streaks of purple and white. 

I’ve also had plenty of classic dark Italian eggplants, some of them large and heavy, others small and cute. 

They’re all delicious. I haven’t found any of them to be bitter. I would hate to sacrifice these lovelies simply because I thought they weren’t going to have as much of a cancer-fighting punch. 

Happily, some research done at the University of Massachusetts shows that the lighter-skinned and more elegant eggplants are equal to their darker cousins in at least one nutritional area: All eggplants seem to be really effective in helping diabetics keep their blood sugar at a healthy, low level. There apparently is an enzyme that converts starch into blood sugar; eggplants of many hues and shapes are able to restrain that enzyme and keep it from converting as much as 60 percent of starch into sugar. 

Let’s return now to our original problem: How to cook a beautiful eggplant so you can appreciate its form and color. 

Someone just gave me a fantastic and simple recipe that  has no respect for the beauty of the fruit: Roast your eggplant on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet at 350 degrees until it’s soft, soft, soft. Take one or two heads of garlic and put them in a very small roasting dish; pour a tablespoon or so of garlic over the heads and wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil. Roast for about an hour at 350 degrees until the cloves are tender (don’t burn them, though). Mash together the roasted garlic and eggplant and spread on toast. 

If you do want to preserve the shape of your eggplant (it’s almost impossible to keep the color of the lighter-hued eggplants; sorry), just slice them in half and roast them in a moderately hot oven (about 350 degrees) face down on a parchment-lined baking sheet until they’re soft and tender (and sweet); it should only take about 15 minutes. You can just drizzle some sesame oil and scallions over your beautiful eggplant halves. If you want them to be really pretty, leave the stems on (but make sure no one tries to eat them). 

One of the most beautiful presentations of eggplants is on the cover (and the inside) of a cookbook called “Plenty,” by Yotam Ottolenghi. 

The short version of his excellent recipe is that you should cut your eggplants in half and roast them, as above (he suggests that you add some leaves of lemon thyme). 

Before you serve them, spoon a buttermilk sauce over each half and then sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the buttermilk sauce. The recipe for the sauce is below, but you could probably substitute a classic yogurt sauce: Just take a nice thick Greek yogurt, add olive oil, a diced garlic clove, lemon juice, salt and pepper and a dash of a good, sweet vinegar (I like to use rice vinegar). Stir and serve; try using diced tomatoes as the garnish instead of pomegranate seeds. 

Buttermilk sauce for 

roasted eggplants

From “Plenty” by 

Yotam Ottolenghi

Serves four

Whisk together: 9 tablespoons of buttermilk, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 small garlic clove, crushed, and a pinch of salt. Spoon over the cool, roasted eggplant halves.