Aubergine, brinjal, eggplant, baingan, patlıcan… whatever you call them, these shiny purple pendulums are having a bit of a moment. One of the world’s most popular vegetables, aubergines are harvested in the UK around August, but should be grown in a greenhouse if you want a good harvest.
Present in many culinary cultures, aubergines play an especially important role in East Asian and South Asian cuisines. China produces the most eggplants globally, with India, Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia making up the rest of the top five.
Europeans didn’t fall for the aubergine’s charms until much later in history. In fact, the Romans thought they were highly poisonous, thanks to their familial relationship with Atropa belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade.
Do aubergines have anything to do with eggs?
While the most recognisable aubergine is the bulbous purple variety, there are many different cultivars, colours and sizes. One of the first varieties seen by European colonisers in the Americas was a white, egg shaped variety, hence the name ‘eggplant’.
These varieties can still be grown today, and there’s even an ornamental species Solanum ovigerum, commonly known as the Easter egg plant.
Are aubergines mad to the core? Or just misunderstood?
While rumours about their poisonous nature persisted, Europeans referred to aubergines as ‘mad apples’ and thought eating them would lead to insanity. This may have originated from a mistranslation; when the Italian name for aubergine ‘melazane’ was misheard as ‘mela insana’ - quite literally, ‘mad apples.’
Brinjal meanwhile, is an Indian English and South African English name for the fruit, with its roots in Portuguese and Arabic.
Aneela Mirchandani (who grew up using the Hindi word baingan) has a great essay on the roots of the word on her website The Odd Pantry.
Folklore fun
This week we’ve got a Punjabi fairy tale about an enchanted princess who emerges from an aubergine. With similarities to the European fairytales Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, you can listen to Princess Aubergine here.
Crime of the week
I’m not going to write about this self-inflicted crime against anatomy, but if you like gross and invasive stories about vegetables then I urge you to click here (NSFW).
Instead, I’m going to focus on an almost unbelievable crime, where an aubergine became an accessory to murder.
In July 2018, an Australian farmer was sentenced to jail for shooting and killing a man at close range. His explanation? His gun accidentally went off after he slipped on an aubergine.
The judge believed his version of events and sentenced him to just five years in jail. You can read more about this sad case here.
Literary connection
Aubergine makes a guest appearance on the first page of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Jonathan Harker eats ‘egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call “impletata.”’ Vampire lovers now enjoy the dish at Halloween.
Eggplants also play a symbolic role in Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, with one of its central characters announcing “Very well, I will marry you if you promise not to make me eat eggplant.”
Finally, Imtiaz Dharker’s poem Eggplant is a beautiful description of an aubergine, you can read and listen to it here.
Musical interlude
It turns out ‘Aubergine’ is a pretty popular song title, so this week there’s a whole playlist to stick your fork into.
The aubergine emoji
While aubergines were seen as suspect (to some) in the 16th century, by the 21st they had become a sex symbol.
The aubergine emoji was launched into an unsuspecting world back in 2010, and was being used to symbolise a penis as early as 2011. By 2015, Instagram had banned its used as a hashtag and the aubergine emoji was soon so ubiquitous that Durex even launched an aubergine flavoured condom.
Thanks to all this fuss, the aubergine emoji is now a cringe has-been (in the eyes of Gen Z anyway), so if you want to sext, try and use something a bit more imaginative - corn on the cob maybe?
Aubergine recipes to try
If all that sexy talk has whetted your appetite, then check out some of these delicious aubergine recipes.
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Roasted aubergine with anchovies and oregano
Maggie Zhu’s Sichuan eggplant stir fry (Yú Xiāng Eggplant, 鱼香茄子)
And for your weekly nostalgia kick, here’s Ainsley Harriot whipping up some Greek aubergines.
The science and history bit
A member of the Solanum genus of plants, aubergines sit within the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Possibly one of the most popular food families in the world, this group is home to potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and tobacco. In fact, aubergines actually have the highest nicotine levels of any vegetable.
While the evolution of the aubergine is a little unclear, according to the Natural History Museum, the plant was domesticated in Asia, though most wild species can be found on the African continent.
Want to grow aubergines yourself?
Due to climate change, your chances of growing a good aubergine in the UK are improving. The Lea Valley, which crosses London, Essex and Hertfordshire, is Britain’s biggest aubergine producer, and like the Lea Valley growers it’s best to sow and raise them in a greenhouse.
Aubergine plants need a long growing season, so plant seeds in January or early spring. The RHS has a good guide here.
If you haven’t already, make sure to hit the subscribe button - next week we’ll be getting our teeth into sweetcorn.
Nichola Daunton is a writer and illustrator based in London. With a background in community gardening, she writes about food, horticulture and the environment.