EGGPLANT

• Solanum melongena
• Solanaceae

  ---

  Eggplant seeds came from India but also wild eggplant were found in Burma. It was known as a vegetable crop in 1 BC. Then in the beginning of AD it came to East in Japan and China, then to the West in Afghanistan, Iran, Turkestan and in the 17 century it came to Russia. Eggplant is grown outdoors in North Caucasus, Povolzhye, at the North of Ukraine, in Moldova, and in the Central Asian republics.
• Fruits contain 89-94 % of water, 2,5-4 % of cellulose, 3-4,5 of saccharose, proteins, tannins, fats, pectin, vitamins of B, P groups, 2-15 mg % of ascorbic acid, mineral salt;
• Fruits have excellent eating qualities, we can consume boiled, fried, baked, salted, pickling fruits or use for cooking first and second courses, sides, vegetable egg-plant paste, souses, gravies.

Fruit - is false all-seed, little juicy. It can be pear-shaped, round-shaped, flat or cylindrical-shaped. Skin is dull or vernicose. A little acicular or without acicular sepal that forms fruit cup. An average weight is from 30 kg to 2 kg, in the length of 5-70 cm, diameter is 5-15 cm. One plant can have from 3 to 15 kg. In industrial maturity it can be white, golden-yellow, green, liliac, violet, dark-violet (almost black), brown-violet. Flesh is green, white, medium-firm and firm without bitterness, tender, with excellent eating qualities. In the period of biological ripeness it is dark-brown with reddish tint, brown with gray tint and gray-green-yellow. Flesh becomes callous, dry and start to become bitter. Small seeds in diameter is 2-3 mm, they are flat with a side rib, gray and gray-yellow, light-brown. The weight of 1000 seeds is 3,5-5 g. Seeds can keep storage qualities from 3 to 5 year.

Curative properties: tender cellulose stimulates bowel work. Eggplants support excretion of cholesterol and odd body fluid, normalize heart function and salt-water exchange, it is useful with anemia, atherosclerotic vascular disease, cardiovascular disease as it has big amount of iron. Juice of fresh or boiled fruits has microbicidal properties.

A little information from botany:

• Eggplant  - is perennial herbage plant Solanum class, Solanaceae family, has close connection to tomatoes. It is grown as annual plant through seedling or sowing. All varieties of our country belong to central Asia eggplant's variety, to eastern and western ecologically-geographical groups. Early-ripening varieties belong to eastern group, mid and late-ripening variety belongs to western group.
• Strong, well-developed branching roots is in tilth top soil and subsurface soil in the depth of 1-1,5 m. By growing through sowing root system is vertical and by growing through seedling is more root in clusters.
• Stalk is upright branching, roundish, thick and very often with thorns. In the beginning of vegetational period stalk is caulis and in 50-60 days it becomes lignescent almost the half of the stalk. Depending on variety the height of stalk can be from 20 to 200 cm. Due to height it divides in short-growing plant (standard plant) 20-60 cm, mid-growing plant (60-150 cm) and tall-growing plant (more than 150 cm). Stalk and branches colour is green with a violet pigmentation, especially at the top.
• Large or mid-sized single leaves with cups situated one after one. They can be egg-shaped, longish egg-shaped, thick lanceolate with complete or sinuate leaf margin. Ordinary thick, soft, spined sometimes with thorns leaves can be green, dark-green or violet with different intensity. Cups and nerves can be green or light-green.
• Large monoclinous dropping flower with 5-7 petals, flower-crown has usually violet colour but it can have white colour. Blossom dust is heavy it can be spread by wind on the small distance (about 1m).