Eggplantation

It took me a couple of years to find this wonderful produce store out on Rt. 441. I'm from New Jersey. The idea that you can buy beer and wine at a produce store in Florida is just amazing. But clearly, I go there for the produce, which is fresh and inexpensive and often homegrown. The other day, eggplant was on sale, displayed in front of the store, three for a dollar. No price per pound nonsense, just three eggplants for a dollar. Of course, I bought three.

Knowing how easy it can be to ignore produce in the fridge, I decided today to do something with the eggplant. I have a foolproof recipe for eggplant rollatini, but I left it back in New Jersey, so I went online to find another one. Alas, I have no ricotta in the house, and I don't feel like going out to get some, so I was limited as to what I could do with this eggplant. I found an eggplant parmesan recipe that got rave reviews. I had all the ingredients. Okay, let's do this!

Well, it turned out okay. Not great. Maybe by the time I eat up all the leftovers, I will have a better assessment of the dish . . . or I'll vow to never eat eggplant again.

So, in search of something to blog about, I did some eggplant research. (Meaning I googled it.) Did you know there are 30 Sanskrit names for eggplant? This fruit (and yes, it is a fruit, not a vegetable) dates back 2,000 years in the recorded history of India. Eggplant belongs to the nightshade family, which always conjures up "deadly nightshade," the most poisonous of plants. Belladonna ("beautiful lady") is one of the plants that Harry Potter and company study at Hogwarts. But don't be too alarmed: tomatoes and potatoes are also part of the nightshade family . . . and they haven't killed us yet, have they? Never mind that ancient Mediterranean people called eggplant "mad apple," believing that if you ate eggplant every day for a month, you would become insane.

My "research" led me, of course, to the Urban Dictionary, where I learned that "eggplant" is a reference to the anatomy of a man who wears skin-tight pants, revealing his eggplant for all to see. Ugh. And then I found that one of the most popular emojis used by Americans is the eggplant, but it's not because people are sharing recipes. "Eggplants are dicks," said one source.

In Asia and Africa, eggplants are called "brinjal." In Great Britain, they're "aubergine," a prettier word than "eggplant," for sure. Whatever you call it, the fruit has nothing to do with eggs, although back in the 1700s, the fruit was smaller and whiter, making it look like eggs.

I have enough leftover eggplant to eat it every day for a month. Watch this space. I'll let you know how it all turns out.