How To Know If Eggplant Is Spoiled
Eggplant is spoiled when it feels soft and mushy and looks wrinkly. When an eggplant is spoiled, its skin appears to be brown in color with green or brown spots on it. Similarly, you can check if the eggplant is gone bad by its taste or rotten smell.
We can tell if the eggplant has been damaged from the texture, if it is softer, feels more squashy in the hands, and is no longer glossy, it is damaged. If it is all browned or has a soft, rubbery texture on the inside, it is not fresh and you need to throw it out. You cannot eat an eggplant with a brown interior, as it has gone bad, but you can eat one that has a different kind of hue. If you slice the eggplant open and notice it is a little brown on the inside, do not fret.
By the way, if you’re interested in How To Keep Fruit Salad Fresh, check out my article on that.
If you cut open an eggplant before cooking it, you may notice a few dark spots on the vegetables interior, which may be a sign that your meal has gone bad. Sometimes, eggplants may have strange spots of brownish hues, that are not uniform, even before you have cut open an eggplant.
| Signs | Shelf life |
| Eggplant is spoiled when it feels soft and mushy and looks wrinkly | 5-7 days in refrigerator |
| When eggplant is spoiled, its skin appears to be brown in color with green or brown spots on it | 3 days at room temperature |
| Eggplant is gone bad by its taste or rotten smell | 7 days in fridge |
When this happens, experienced eggplants may experience uneven oxidation, which results in patches of brown shading inside. If an eggplant is already brown by the time you first cut it, it should be discarded. In fact, even once it starts to turn brown on the inside, eggplant is still edible, especially if you are planning to roast it.
If you notice any black seeds inside of an eggplant when you slice it open, toss it out, it is been sitting there for way too long and it is going to taste bitter. If you notice rotten spots on the skin of your eggplant, trim the afflicted portion off and discard. In fact, if an eggplant looks good from the outside, but feels mushy when squeezed, chances are that it is going bad within the skin, and you should toss it out immediately. The greener the skin, the less ripe the eggplant is, and the greater the chances it is going to spoil shortly after you purchase it.
If the end of the stalk gives out easily, then the eggplant is still fine; but, if the end of the stalk does not give out easily, then the eggplant is spoiling.
If an eggplant has an odd smell, either it is too old or rotten, it is no longer edible after it has oxidized. If an eggplant has brown spots or a darker shade, but shows no other signs of deterioration, like limpness, slime, or smell, it is safe to eat. An eggplant with brown spots is unsafe to eat if it contains insects or mold, or shows any other signs of spoilage. If the flesh of an eggplant has brown or dark spots, the best practice is to discard the eggplant — there is an exception to this rule, though.
If you’re wondering How To Preserve Food, take a look at my other article after you finish this one.
If you cut into an eggplant and discover brown spots on the fruits flesh, there is a very good chance it is a bacterial infection and you should throw the eggplant away. This is because when the bacteria starts eating through their surface of the skin, this causes these black spots and wrinkles as they keep making their way to the meat of the fruit.
The flesh of the eggplant begins to brown as soon as it is exposed to oxygen, either before or after ripening. When the eggplant goes bad, or has been sitting around in the room for too long, it starts turning brown. Sliced eggplants last for about 30 minutes at room temperature, and then they will begin to go brown. After being cut, the eggplants turn brown after a while, maybe 30 minutes, and eggplant is not that appealing.
Waiting till last possible seconds before cutting your eggplant you may alleviate some of the oxidation and browning. While you cannot completely avoid browning, being smart about when to cut up your eggplants can help give you better results. You can delay the browning and the enzyme-induced rot by keeping the eggplants stored appropriately and in a safe environment.
Enzymatic browning only changes the look and feel of your eggplant, whereas rotting eggplants show further indicators of spoilage. Your plant is probably browning due to enzymatic browning if your eggplant is browning just after you cut it open and allow it to rest. Most often, your eggplant is brown on the inside because it has gone bad, is going through enzymatic browning, or is experiencing internal shading due to external injuries.
If it has discoloration beyond normal eggplant purple, it has likely gone bad, just by looking at how it feels on your skin. The skin is hard, but will easily scuff up, leading to areas of eggplant skin that appear black or mottled with a purple-brown hue. When you are cooking the eggplant, keep in mind to remove the stringy outer skin completely and neatly.
The second reason may be that your eggplant is brown just because you have cut into it, just as apples are brown when they are sliced. If an eggplants skin is getting shriveled and wrinkled, or the fruit (yes, technically eggplants are fruits) is noticeably mushy or slimy, or the fruit (yeah, it is mushy, but still) has soft spots everywhere, then it is going bad. Because of a gas called ethylene that is released from different fruits and vegetables, keeping an eggplant close to other fruits, such as bananas, will make it go from ripe to overripe, destroying your eggplant within hours.
More importantly, you should avoid keeping your eggplants in an enclosed area with the fruits that produce ethylene, such as bananas, apples, pears, lemons, peaches. Like any produce, eggplants go bad very easily, especially if you do not store them correctly (learn to store eggplants here). If you have the proper storage conditions, eggplant will keep for weeks, but if anything goes wrong–maybe the fridge is set too cold, or there is some humidity–it will spoil really fast. If you cooked an eggplant in a curry or a dish, it can keep its quality for as long as five days.
Is it okay to eat eggplant that is brown inside?
Around the seeds, the flesh of the eggplant will have tan to brown patches. If the shade you’re referring to is this, it’s edible. If the eggplant’s flesh is more dark than white, it may be spoiled and needs to be thrown away.
Can you get food poisoning from eggplant?
Several problems might arise from eating raw eggplant. Eating raw eggplant can still cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, even though you would need to consume a large amount of it for the consequences to be fatal. We strongly advise properly boiling it “to avoid any risk.”
How long does it take for eggplants to go bad?
If stored properly, eggplant can last for two to three weeks. When they were picked and how they were stored affect the shelf life of eggplant. Although everyone uses eggplant as a vegetable (similar to how a tomato is used), it is a fruit, so we list it under vegetables.