In some recipes and articles, there are recommendations for soaking eggplants before frying in salt water. This is done in order to bring bitterness out of them. Some housewives adhere to these recommendations, others argue that bitter eggplants do not exist. So do you need to soak the eggplant or will it do?
Feasibility of soaking eggplants
You can get rid of the bitter taste of eggplants if you cut them into cubes or circles before cooking and soak them in salted water for 20-40 minutes. You can also sprinkle them with salt, wait until they let the juice out, and rinse it off under running water. Eggplant bitterness is most often concentrated in the eggplant peel, which can taste bitter from overripe, drought or cold, but modern varieties of this vegetable are protected from the bitter taste by new breeding developments.
With anxious care of grown eggplants and timely harvesting, they almost never taste bitter.
Most often, bitterness is found in unripe or overripe eggplants, which are easily identified by their dark seeds and rather tough fibers. Greenhouse eggplants, grown at the optimum temperature and sufficient moisture, are available throughout the year. They do not taste bitter at all, however, unfortunately, they are inferior to ground eggplants in their taste. In total, eggplants can be soaked in salt water, focusing on the way they are grown, the degree of ripeness, varieties and recipe for the dish for which they are soaked.
Eggplant Cooking Tricks You Need to Know
When buying eggplants, always try to choose the darkest skinned vegetables, as they are less bitter than other eggplants. Also, the fruit should be shiny, firm and have a fresh green stalk. Never buy eggplants with spots, wrinkled skin or brown stalks - they have been plucked a long time ago and have lost all their beneficial nutritional properties.
Try not to cook eggplants with potatoes, as they negatively affect their taste.
In addition, eggplants have one feature - during frying, they, like a sponge, absorb a large amount of vegetable oil. To avoid being oversaturated with fat, cut them up, soak them in salted water for 20 minutes and squeeze them out - after that, the eggplants will absorb much less oil. They should be fried in a hot frying pan, and in the first minutes this can be done without vegetable oil at all, adding it gradually after frying. Fried eggplants are best paired with peppers and tomatoes, so it is best to serve them with just such a side dish that will accentuate their spicy taste.
