|
Eggplant, the Delicious Fruit with Many Names
 BECOME A KITCHEN BOTANIST: Eggplant, the Delicious Fruit with Many Names
Eggplant is a fruit, and the little dark specks you see in a slice are the seeds of the fruit.
Why is this fruit named after eggs? Like eggs, it is eaten fried, boiled, and baked. But that’s not where its name comes from. It is named after a variety of the plant which has white oval fruits about the size of…eggs!
Americans are about the only ones who call it eggplant. In much of Europe and in French restaurants everywhere, it is Aubergine. Eggplant is a dietary mainstay in India, where its name is Brinjal, derived from the Portuguese.
Eggplant is native to tropical Asia, while many of its edible relatives are native to Central and South America.
There are dozens of variations of its name, and that points out the problem of identifying plants by common names. There is no argument about its scientific name, Solanum melongena. Another common name is melongen which is similar to the specific name.
Eggplant is in the same genus as the potato, and is in the Solanaceae or Nightshade Family. In addition to containing some of our favorite vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes, and chilies, the leaves, stems, and flowers of many of the Solanaceae family are poisonous. Some, such as the atropine-containing deadly nightshade, are deadly in the short run, while others, like nicotine-containing tobacco, are often deadly in the long run. |
