I know there is advice to salt and drain eggplant before cooking, but some recipes, like those for baked eggplant, don't allow this. And it doesn't seem necessary with eggplant from the supermarket. How can I grow eggplants that I can bake without worrying that they will be bitter?
TIA
LAS
How to grow eggplants that are not bitter?
What type are you growing?
I think the bitterness tends to be from older eggplants. If you pick them young they shouldn't be bitter. If they get too large and form the seeds they can be bitter. I'm getting a good crop this summer and people I make them for comment on how "sweet" they are!
Pick them when they're still shiny. As they get dull, they're also getting bitter.
Adding a little sugar to bitter eggplants will neutralize the bitterness. We do this even when they're not bitter. I generally
Make a stewed eggplant and shrimp dish and the sugar lends itself to the flavor.
The recipe is posted in the tags.
Gymgirl, I don't know how to interpret "the recipe is posted in the tags." How do I look at your shrimp/eggplant recipe?
Las14,
After hitting "Tagged Pages" in the margin above you will see a page with lots of headings. I found "Eggplant recipes", went there and clicked on it again. If you scroll down on that thread you will see Gymgirl's recipe for Stewed Eggplant. I have included the link to that thread below and hope it works. The recipe sounds wonderful. Going out to harvest some more eggplant this afternoon! Need to get some shrimp, though!
Here is the link to the thread: Scroll down about half way.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1038133/
I grow a variety called Rosa Bianca and it is never bitter even when the seeds have formed, you don't even have to peel it. It is an Italian heirloom, very prone to spidermites, but worth growing. The fruits are purple and white and are more round than traditional varieties.
Thanks for pointing that out about the Rosa Bianca. I am growing it this summer along with many other varieties but it doesn't produce a lot for me so I never paid attention to its bitterness factor. I probably harvest it on the early side because I am so delighted to see it producing something! I can also recommend Asian Bride - long white with pink-purple stripes. It is so delicious, sweet and tender. I don't know how it is if I let it grow really big. It is quite prolific so I will leave one on to get big and see what happens.
Rosa Bianca needs hot weather to produce quantities of fruit. It is great for us here because it loves the heat. If your weather is too cool, row covers would work. The plants are not huge like some other varieties.
I gave a seedling of Rosa Bianca to a Turkish friend who grows amazing veggies. He came by the other day with a boxload of produce from some of the plants I had given him (tomatoes and peppers as well). He showed me a Rosa Bianca and said it was the sweetest variety of all the ones I gave him and all his Turkish friends who tried it agreed! I thought that was interesting considering the above post about its never getting bitter. I realize that mine never did anything this summer so will plant more for next year and really baby them.