5. Good Organic Gardening - September-October 2016 AvxHome.in

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS | Eggplant
Crazy
apple
Whether purple, black or white,
versatile eggplant has as many names
and varieties as it has culinary uses
Words Melissa King
Don’t overlook eggplant among
the rich bounty of summer
produce. It’s a wonderfully
productive plant that deserves a
place in the garden as much as on the plate,
with its attractive grey-green foliage, pretty
flowers and glossy fruit.
On its own, eggplant can taste a little
bland but the flesh soaks up flavours and
spices beautifully and is a good meat
substitute. Get some in the ground this
spring and you’ll be rewarded with a banquet
of fruit for months on end.
Eggplants aren’t all big and purple. They
can be long and thin, rotund or oblong,
while skin colour can range from white and
yellow to green, purple and black, with all
manner of variations in between.
Some early varieties of eggplant were
small, white and egg-like — hence their
common English name. But it’s also variously
known by its French name aubergine
(especially in England) as well as melongene
in the Caribbean and brinjal in India
and other parts of Asia. Its Italian name,
melanzana, is sometimes rendered mela
insana, or “crazy apple”.
Its Italian name, melanzana, is sometimes
rendered mela insana, or “crazy apple”.
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