Eggplant, Aubergine or Brinjal

“How can people say they don't eat eggplant when God loves the color and the French love the name?... I don't understand." - Jeff Smith

Its may be because of the unique color of the eggplant that depicts royalty and color of Gods of ancient cultures that made Jeff Smith say, “ ..God loves the color”. And it’s not surprising why the color is a symbol of royalty as it’s the most exclusive and rarest color present in nature. The name “eggplants” comes from white eggplants that look like eggs of a goose or a hen. On the other hand eggplant color is actually the dark purple color of European eggplant vegetable. Chinese Eggplants are violet in color. In Thailand and India green and yellow verities are also cultivated. In some areas of India even orange colored eggplants are grown. Eggplants also come in bi colors. This amazing vegetable varies from white to dark purple in color; all other colors are rare and are cultivated in few regions around the world. Eggplant has a history as rich as its color. It’s been an important ingredient of Arabic, Greek, Roman, African and Asian cuisines. Americans, Australians and Canadians called it Eggplant. It is called Aburigine by the British who adopted the name from French. Indians, Persians and South Africans named it Brinjal. Eggplants have fascinating history of how the name evolved and was adopted by different regions and languages. No matter what you call it; it enjoys the distinctive characteristics among all other vegetables.

It not only varies in name and color and also in shape and size. Egg-shaped, oval, elongated, rounded, bell-shaped, baby fingers, drop, snake shaped, spiral are few of its variations. Fruit can be as small as a grape and as long as 16 inches. In some regions eggplants weighing as much as 2 pounds are also grown.

Growing Eggplants is a rewarding practice. This vegetable loves hot temperatures and is excellent choice for our region. Seeds are planted ½ inch deep and soil is kept moist. It is better to grow it as seedlings and latter transplant it once true leaves emerge. Distance between plants should be 16 inches and row spacing should be 24 inches. Eggplants are as easy to grow as tomatoes and peppers in pots as well. For growing them in container a terracotta pot of 12 inches or bigger is ideal.

Besides being an excellent source of dietary fibers, vitamin B1, B6, potassium, magnesium and folic acid, this vegetable is packed with nutrients that help in reducing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hypertension and aids in controlling diabetes. It is also interesting to note that an eggplant contains as much nicotine as a cigarette!

With countless health benefits, diversity of colors, rage of shapes and sizes, and a fascinating history, eggplants are definitely now one of my favorite crops!

We planted eggplants at our vegetable patch in our school ( Dawood Public School) to experiment growing it. It been a huge success and next year our students will definitely be growing these.

You can easily grow eggplants and taste what all these people have been enjoying since ages. Trust me; you are going to love it when those purple flowers will turn into stunning, shinny dark purple vegetables.

Happy Gardening!

- Zahra