Do you need to peel eggplants and how to do it correctly?

You can prepare delicious and original dishes from eggplants, and use them as one of the ingredients in recipes for a wide variety of cuisines. However, in addition to its taste, this vegetable is also valued for its invaluable benefits to the body. Doctors recommend eggplants for dietary nutrition. They have a positive effect on the functioning of the digestive system, remove cholesterol, and bring weight back to normal. And the “little blue ones” are good for bones, skin and hair, the nervous, circulatory, cardiovascular and genitourinary systems.

To clean or not

A novice housewife, having bought the “little blue” ones, wonders whether the eggplants need to be peeled or cooked with the skin on. What if such a procedure deprives the vegetable of most of its beneficial properties? Let's figure it out.

When it is necessary

For dishes with eggplants, in which the consistency should be uniform, the vegetables are always peeled, and, if necessary, the core and seeds are removed (if the fruit is old). The seeds of the old fruit spoil the dish, especially when stewing. Stews, mashed potatoes, caviar and stewed eggplants require a delicate consistency - both separately and together with other vegetables.

When not to clean

In some dishes, the “blue” ones must keep their shape after cooking. It is the skin that helps preserve the appearance of the finished product. Eggplants are also left with the skin and seeds or partially peeled when you want them to add a spicy kick to the taste.Such dishes include baked, fried, stuffed and grilled eggplant and vegetable rolls.

Getting rid of bitterness

When a recipe calls for preserving the skin of a vegetable, but there is a risk that it will taste bitter, eggplants require pre-processing. After washing, they are dried, cut into circles or cubes and soaked in salted water (1 l/2 tbsp.) for 25-30 minutes.. You can also soak it in fresh milk, under slight pressure, for half an hour. The whole fruit will have to be soaked for at least two hours. Then the eggplant is washed with clean water. Now the vegetable can be cooked, and it will not taste bitter.

By the way! Did you know that it is not the eggplant peel that is most bitter, but its pulp or seeds? That is why, in order to remove it, the vegetable is cut before soaking.

No harm with the peel

The peel of a high-quality vegetable that is not overloaded with nitrates will not cause harm to the body. Therefore, there is no question as to whether it can be eaten with the skin. On the contrary, the skin contains maximum nutrients. However, sometimes you still need to get rid of the skin.

So, the peel is always peeled if the eggplant is not young: older fruits have a tough skin and will have more bitterness. If vegetables are used for dietary purposes or in dishes for children, it is also better to remove the skin. This especially applies to situations when you purchase vegetables grown in large farms and do not know whether nitrates were used and in what quantities. If there is a suspicion that the fruit was grown with the use of chemicals, it is better to get rid of the skin, as it tends to accumulate harmful toxins.

How to peel eggplants

If a recipe requires peeling or you prefer a peeled vegetable yourself, there are several ways to do it.There are three types of cleaning:

1. Full.
2. Partial.
3. After preparing the dish.

Before cooking, the vegetable is washed well under running water, the base of the stem and the lower part are always removed - they are hard and bitter. They are cut off regardless of the cleaning method and the age of the fruit.

Full

To do this, remove the skin with a knife or vegetable peeler. The peel layer should not be too thick. Place the eggplant on the board vertically with a slight slope. Peel the peel in strips from top to bottom until the entire vegetable has been peeled.

Partial

This type of cleaning diversifies the look and taste of finished dishes. It allows you to preserve the benefits of the vegetable and keep its shape. The meaning of this method is that the peel is cut off in the same way as in the previous case, only not completely, but in strips 2-3 cm wide. It turns out to be a sort of eggplant “zebra”.

After preparing the dish

The finished vegetable is cleaned after heat treatment. From a baked or scalded whole fruit, when it has cooled, carefully remove a thin layer of skin with a knife, hands, fork or spoon.

Read also:

How dangerous are spider mites on eggplants and how to effectively fight them.

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What is good about the Epic eggplant variety and why it is worth growing.

To make it tasty and healthy

If you are wondering whether it is necessary to peel an eggplant, you should know that it is bitter not only and not so much because of the peel. The seeds give the vegetable its bitterness. The pulp itself can be bitter. Solanine contained in fruits is responsible for this - a substance that in large quantities has a harmful effect on the body. And when frying a vegetable, it not only spoils the taste of the dish, but can also cause intoxication.Experienced housewives and cooks can always determine whether the fruits will taste bitter.

To understand whether there is a lot of solanine in eggplant and, accordingly, whether it needs pre-treatment, just cut off a small piece of the vegetable and wait half a minute. Eggplant flesh that contains no or very little solanine will remain light in color or may acquire a slightly yellow tint. Vegetables containing harmful substances darken and turn brown when cut.

To completely remove bitterness, and therefore get rid of solanine, you need to properly process the “little blue” ones:

• cut the eggplant as required by the recipe (you can process the whole eggplant if necessary);
• soak in salted water or milk (30 minutes for cut fruits, two hours for whole ones);
• Remove seeds and peel from the fruit (in whole or in part).

By the way! Nowadays, most varieties of eggplant are no longer bitter. All thanks to the breeders: they tried hard and developed varieties that simply are not bitter.

Conclusion

It is safe to say that a well-grown vegetable that is not overloaded with nitrates and other chemicals is healthy to eat with the peel. And whether to clean it or not is a matter of taste. Now you know how to test eggplant for solanine and get rid of a harmful substance that spoils the taste. This will allow you to cook “little blue ones” the way you want and as required by your favorite recipes, and not worry about the taste of the dishes and your health.