Is It Safe To Eat Under Ripe Eggplant?
It is absolutely not safe to eat under ripe egg plants due to them containing solanine. This is a type of poison and belongs to the nightshade family. So consuming eggplant raw can result in intestinal and stomach issues because of the presence of solanine, and thus one is advised not to do so.
Since the eggplant is cooked to make the eggplant soup, it is possible to use an eggplant that is not fully matured, since cooking it will remove some solanine. When you have an eggplant that is a little under-ripe and want to cook it, you can blanch it for one minute in warm water.
The steaming will make sure the eggplant fruits are soft enough to eat, although the fruits will still have some crunch. While your eggplant fruits might not be completely ripe, they will be slightly less under-ripe, making them safer for eating. From being over-ripe and turning brown, eggplant fruits may turn green when small and firm, or unripe.
Eggplants are typically greenish, but they may also be purple, yellow, orange, red, white, black, or even two-colored. They may even be used similarly to purple eggplants in cooked dishes, and have sweeter, mellower, less bitter flavors.
In soups, eggplants are also tasty, and although you might not always find an eggplant that is just perfectly ripe, even a slightly underripe one can be eaten when properly prepared. Although Eggplant seeds are not the most tasty part of an eggplant, and you can remove them if you wish, they are actually quite healthy and offer an array of health benefits.
To learn about Are Tomato Plants Poisonous, then check out my another article.
While you do want to avoid picking the ripe eggplants to eat, if you would like to save the eggplant seeds for planting again the following year, you will want to allow at least one eggplant to ripen completely, and only after that you will be able to pull out the seeds. Even if you are not planning on using the fully ripe eggplants to save seeds, you should still take them out, so that the plant will be able to direct more of its energy to producing more flowers and eggplants. Just like cucumbers and bell peppers, it is important to continue picking eggplants so that the plant can concentrate on producing more flowers.
| Is it safe to eat under ripe eggplant? | Shelf Life of eggplants |
| You should not eat eggplant which is not fully ripe, as it contains a harmful chemical solanine. | Eggplant can last for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator (32-34°F). |
| Eggplant is unsafe to eat by a pregnant woman as it may trigger uterine contractions. | A whole eggplant will last for only two days at your kitchen counter (60-68°F) |
If an eggplant looks overripe, cutting it off and checking is worth nothing, as you will get part of it for eating. You have to be aware when to harvest the eggplant, or else you are going to end up with something that tastes kinda underwhelming and bitter. While you can eat eggplants without cooking them, raw eggplants have the potential of tasting slightly bitter, which is why they are not typically high on recipe developers lists.
How To Know If Eggplant Is Spoiled? Find the answer to this question by clicking on this article.
Most people can eat a reasonable amount of raw eggplant without experiencing any negative effects from the toxins in solamine, although some may be sensitive to it and feel gastrointestinal discomfort. If you get nausea or other problems after eating raw eggplant, you may be sensitive to solanine and will need to adjust your diet. Eating raw eggplant means that you are going to be eating solanine, which can cause poisoning and lead to severe, life-threatening, and exanthematous, gastrointestinal, neurological, and psychiatric conditions. Eggplant is unsafe to eat in any quantity by a pregnant woman, as it contains solanine, which may trigger uterine contractions.
Eggplant is high in the amino acid Solanine. Plants of the Nightshade family, including eggplants, potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos, contain an alkaloid called solanine, which is toxic at very high doses. There is no issue if you occasionally consume raw eggplant, however, as most members of the nightshade family, eggplant contains solanine.
If you would like to try eating an eggplant raw, you can remove the skins and slice it. If you do not eat raw eggplants, this is a worthwhile experiment — just avoid those leaves and flowers of eggplants, because they may be poisonous. If you discover that you planted the green variety of eggplant by mistake, then you definitely could eat the fruits.
If you are worried whether a green eggplant is safe to eat, it completely depends on what caused the greenness. If your eggplant is green, it could be due to the type that you picked, or if it is overripe, sunburned, or if you are simply seeing the subtle greenish hue that is common to eggplants overall. We are not saying a perfectly ripe eggplant needs to be fully green, but if all you are seeing is a small hint of that…it is probably just the usual coloring, and you really should not be doing anything. If the eggplant has gone bad, you will notice its color shift from the initial purple hue to brownish-green.
If your eggplant is overripe, you might want to avoid taking it to the kitchen, as it will taste quite bitter. Depending on what kind of eggplant is being eaten, it may be quite bitter even when raw, although brining to get rid of moisture in your eggplant may fix that.
No, you should not eat eggplant which is not completely matured and is not fully ripe, as it contains a harmful chemical. If you are concerned about eating uncooked eggplants because they are night-shades, then restrict consumption.
If you put the eggplant in a plastic bag, be sure that both the bag and food are extremely dry, or else it will easily spoil. Once you reach that stage, you can pull out your eggplant and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Like any produce, eggplants go bad very easily, especially if you do not store them correctly (learn how to store eggplants here). While the skin of small, young eggplants is edible, the skin on larger or older eggplants will turn bitter and you need to remove the skin.
The best way to ripen hard-skinned types of eggplant is to let them sit out on your counter for several days until they have softened. Do not keep your eggplants near bananas, tomatoes, melons, or other fruits that produce a lot of ethylene when ripening, because this will speed the eggplants down. While leaves and flowers may be toxic, the eggplant itself is safe for consumption, raw and cooked, and a compound to which some may be sensitive, solanine, is only toxic in high amounts.
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.
Is it OK to eat a green eggplant?
The flesh is solid, spongy, and white to ivory behind the skin, containing a few edible seeds. Green eggplants must be cooked since they become mushy, meaty, and tender when heated. The eggplants also taste milder, sweeter, and more earthy than other colorful eggplant cultivars, with fewer bitter undertones.