Notes on preparing eggplant

These days it is easy to find different kinds of eggplant in Bloomington all year around - Asian groceries often carry the long thin Japanese varieties, the supermarkets are starting to carry pink and violet alternatives to the usual dark purple globes, and thank heavens for our wonderful Farmer's Market! 

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

When you buy eggplant, the skin should be tight and shiny, the eggplant firm and heavy feeling. Older eggplant is spongy, drinking up even more oil than fresh eggplant, and its seeds can be bitter. If you must have eggplant (and sometimes you must) and the selection is not fresh, buy an extra just in case. While salting or blanching can make old eggplant less bitter, sometimes there is nothing to be done. 

TO SALT OR NOT TO SALT

Salting is a matter of some controversy in the eggplant world. It is said to draw out the bitter juices and since it does pull out the liquid, the eggplant doesn't give up so much juice in whatever you are cooking. If this matters to you, slice the eggplant, salt heavily, and let it drain in a colander. Rinse it and dry it before you use it. I don't usually bother. If I think an eggplant is bitter, I taste it (yes, raw, it won't kill you.) If it's really awful, I throw it out and use a spare. 

NOT ALL CREATED EQUAL

Also, it's worth noting that some of the spiffier and more exotic eggplants, like the round orange ones, for instance, and some of the short fat "finger" types, are bitter even when they are young. Not all eggplants are made for easy eating - experiment to find what you like, and settle for admiring the rest from afar.

- Christine Barbour