FAMILY FROM OUR WEDDING

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

HELP HELP HELP

HI..
glad i got your attention..
So you remember that really pretty eggplant parm I made.. looked great... but good lord its bitter.. WHAT DID I DO WRONG.. the Eggplant was bitter, I soaked it for about 30 minutes in salted water just like always.. I rinsed it.. and then patted it dry and baked everything like I should have. What makes an eggplant not bitter????

5 comments:

new*me said...

I have never made egg plant so I have no clue. I would hop over to Greenlite Bites.........Roni is awesome with soooo many types of food. If you asked her in a comment, she will reply for sure ;)

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing your eggplant wasn't fresh. Fresh eggplant shouldn't be bitter when cooked. If it's not so fresh, that would explain it.

The P

Twix said...

Hmmm?? The few times I have actually been brave enough to eat eggplant it has been bitter. So I have no actual clue. And it left me with a strong dislike for the purple giant. Since The P, mentioned it not being fresh I might be brave enough to try a freshly picked one. Perhaps that's the problem. And all of this leads me to another question. How can you tell wether you have a fresh one or not? Or should you only eat the ones you picked yourself straight form the garden? Glad you brought this up! ;-)

Shari said...

Look at the blossom end. If it has a round mark, it's a male. If the mark is oval--slightly elongated--it's a female. The females are firmer and have fewer seeds. The fewer seeds the eggplant has, the less bitter it will be. My helpful tip of the day!

Mouthy Girl said...

You also need to look at the SIZE of the eggplant. The larger the bulb, the more mature the vegetable which means that it'll have MORE seeds and be MORE bitter EVEN with soaking and salting. Go for the smaller ones - you can even try the Chinese eggeplants. They're super slim - you'd need several and would have to slice them LENGTHWISE so that you don't end up with teeny discs.