3 Things You Can Do to Temper Bitter Eggplants (2024)

FAQs

3 Things You Can Do to Temper Bitter Eggplants? ›

Sweetness: From sugar, honey, fruits or otherwise, sweetness will counteract bitter and sour flavours. It can also be used to cut down the heat of a particularly spicy meal. Saltiness: Salt plays two very important roles in flavouring a dish. Firstly, it balances against bitterness.

Sweetness: From sugar, honey, fruits or otherwise, sweetness will counteract bitter and sour flavours. It can also be used to cut down the heat of a particularly spicy meal. Saltiness: Salt plays two very important roles in flavouring a dish. Firstly, it balances against bitterness.

Today, eggplants are bred not to have that kind of bitterness," Jenkins explains. She does call out one outlier though. "The only exception is when you deep fry it. I tend to soak the slices in a bowl of water with a couple of tablespoon of salt for about 30-45 minutes.

Sweating the eggplant will give it a salty flavor and tender texture, while roasting the eggplant will make it smoky and will give it a golden crust. I sweat eggplant when I'm going to fry it for Eggplant Parmesan, and roast it when I'm making pasta with a caponata sauce.

In stews and purees, eggplant's bitterness usually isn't a problem. But using a cooking method like frying or grilling concentrates its bitter character.

Something salty -- salt will often cut the bitterness -- but also something fatty.

Squeeze in some vinegar or lemon juice. Sour, acidic tastes like these naturally counteract bitterness.

Not necessarily; it depends on what you're looking for in the finished dish. Though salting works when you want the eggplant to be creamy and tender — such as with parmigiana — in those cases where you want the eggplant to retain its shape and have a slightly firmer texture — such as ratatouille — you can skip it.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

Regardless, sprinkling a good amount of salt over eggplant slices or cubes before they're cooked does draw out some of its moisture and lessens the bitterness.

What is the secret to cooking eggplant? ›

Eggplants are known to absorb a lot of fat while cooking. A useful tip to prevent sogginess and greasiness is to salt sliced or diced eggplant and let it sit for an hour. This helps to draw out moisture. Next, rinse and drain any liquid from the sliced eggplant, then pat dry before cooking.

To magically remove the bitterness from the eggplant and greatly improve the texture, soak the eggplant in milk overnight. Once the slices of eggplant have taken a long, luxurious, milky bath, they are tenderized and primed for frying. Simply tap off the extra moisture, dust the eggplant slices with sea salt and flour.

Eggplants can have the alkaloid solanine, which can give it a bitter taste. “Another compound possibly contributing to eggplant's bitterness is anthocyanin, which is a phytochemical that gives eggplant its pretty purple hue and can act like an antioxidant when we consume it,” says Nichole Dandrea-Russert, MS, RDN.

The Fix: Balance bitter flavors by introducing something salty, sweet, or sour. For naturally bitter foods such as kale, you can soften the flavor by add a lemony vinaigrette, Parmesan cheese, and pomegranate seeds.

Salting versus brining

It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream. To salt, just slice the eggplant into rounds, scatter 1 teaspoon of salt on top, leave for 30 minutes, then pat dry. Brining (soaking in salted water) will do the same job but also make the flesh super creamy.