Eggplant

Family - Solanaceous. The motherland is the tropical countries of Southeast Asia.

Perennial, in the culture an annual, self-pollinated herbaceous plant. The height of the bush is in the range from 25 to 100 cm. The plant is stable and does not need support. Leaves are regular, entire. Flowers large, single, light purple, sometimes collected in a brush. Fruits are of a different size and shape( rounded, pear-shaped, cylindrical).The fruit weight on average is in the range from 50 to 1400 - 1500 g. The fruit is very beautiful, painted from the traditional purple to white, orange or almost red. In food, fruits are consumed at the age of 30-40 days, cooked, fried, stuffed. In addition, they are indispensable for canning.

Dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties are most suitable for indoor and balcony cultivation. These include: Donetsk harvest, Lolita, Solaris, Early Dwarf-921, Universal and others.

Eggplants are grown in room conditions only by seedling method.

♦ Accommodation. By the time of installation on the windows of heated rooms( February 10 - 20) eggplants should have a thick stem with 5-6 leaves and a well developed root system. Windows should be used in south and south-west orientation. On unheated porches and loggias, boxes or pots with eggplants are installed no later than the first ten days of May. The optimum temperature for their growth and development is 23-28 ° C.With a decrease in temperature to 13 - 15 ° C, the growth and development of plants ceases.

♦ Care. Eggplant seedlings with 5-6 leaves, usually at the age of 45-55 days, sit in large pottery or plastic pots with a diameter of 18 - 20 cm or in the corresponding boxes. The best substrate for room cultivation is "Biogrunt" or a humus or flower mixture rich in humus. Substrate before planting aubergines should be moistened with water, as in this case, significantly increases the survival rate of plants. Watering is regular and abundant, best in the evening hours. With a lack of moisture, the eggplants are discarded. Every 10-15 days of fertilization is carried out with a universal granulated fertilizer or a liquid concentrated fertilizer "Rainbow".

The formation of plants is not carried out, since the stalk is strong and they grow beautifully in the pot. When excessive growth follows the tips of the side shoots to pinch.

Sometimes in the room, the eggplant poorly tie fruit. It is recommended to carry out additional, artificial pollination with a brush.

♦ Pests and diseases - whitefly, greenhouse aphids, diseases - late blight, fusarium wilt and brown leaf blotch.

♦ Reproduction - the same as tomato - with seeds.

Use

Anointed eggplant

2 aubergines to wash and bake in the oven until soft. Clean and finely chop. Add the medium sized tomatoes rubbed through a sieve, grated garlic and a few ground walnuts or hazelnuts. Mix thoroughly, add ground cilantro, sugar, vinegar, salt to taste. Cooked in this manner anointed bread slices, sprinkled with chopped onions.

Eggplants stuffed with meat

Eggplant cut off the top and take out the pulp with a spoon. Pulped pulp finely chop, mix with minced meat, salt, spices and crossed onion. This mass of stuffed eggplants, put them in greased saucepan. Pour a little water and simmer until soft. For 4 eggplants - 250 g minced meat, 1 onion, 100 g of vegetable oil.

Veal with eggplant

Cut into thin slices of 5 eggplants, fry them for fat. Separately fry 600 grams of veal stuffed with veal, along with 3 - 4 tomatoes, 1-2 onions, 1-2 pods of sweet pepper, parsley, black pepper.

Put a row of aubergines in a pan, a layer of minced meat, again a row of eggplants. The upper row should be from eggplant. Add 1 tomato, sliced ​​thin slices, a little green parsley and pour 1-2 glasses of water. Cook over medium heat until water evaporates. Serve to a table with a salad of baked sweet peppers and tomatoes.

Fried aubergines

4 eggplants are washed, cut along into thin plates, sprinkle with salt with black pepper. Fry on both sides in vegetable oil. Put on a dish. Top put walnuts( 10 - 15 pcs.), 3-4 cloves of garlic and cilantro. All sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

In Europe, learned about eggplants only in the XV century.300 years ago Europeans were afraid to use these fruits for food, although they had excellent taste and medical indicators.