How to clean the eggplants: the procedure to empty them through soaking

Do you want to prepare a delicious eggplants parmigiana, but don't you know how to clean the eggplants? We’ll explain it to you in this guide; the technique is very simple. First, for those who don’t know, we explain what it means to clean the eggplants. It is a very useful and in some cases fundamental procedure, which is used to eliminate the bitter taste typical of this vegetable.

Rich in vitamins C and fiber, eggplants are very nutritious and help us maintain a healthy and balanced diet. However, eggplants also contain a substance, solanine, which is used to defend themselves against fungi and insects. It is precisely on this substance that the bitter taste of the eggplants depends.

To eliminate it, the most common methods are soaking in water and vinegar and the salt technique. Coarse salt, in particular, by acting by osmosis, eliminates their liquid. In this way, moreover, the eggplants can be cooked faster and even require less oil. So let's see together which is the secret to best clean the eggplants.

1. Soaking in water and vinegar

A first technique, which is a real grandmother's remedy, consists in leaving the eggplants to soak in water and vinegar. First of all it is essential to wash the eggplants well; pass them under cold running water. With a sharp knife, remove the eggplant base and cap.

You can decide to remove the peel or to leave it. Of course this depends on both your tastes and the recipe you are about to prepare. In any case, cut the eggplant into slices, about 1 cm wide and put them into a bowl full of cold water, with two teaspoons of vinegar. Soak them for about 30 minutes, drain and dry them well.

2.Under salt

You can put the eggplants in salt as a single step, or do it immediately after soaking in water and vinegar, to be sure that you have completely removed the bitter taste. For this operation, it is necessary to cut the eggplants into cubes, or even better into 1 cm thick slices. Again, you can remove the peel if you don't like it.

Take a bowl and a colander. Sprinkle each slice of eggplant with coarse salt and place them one on top of the other in the colander, so that they are rather pressed. Place the colander on the bowl. For best results, add a weight over the eggplants. Let them drain like this for about 2 hours.

After this time, you should find some dark liquid in the bowl. Wash each slice of eggplant thoroughly under cold running water to remove any trace of salt, then squeeze them well to dry them. You can do this with paper towels, or even better with a clean tea towel.

Move on to the preparation of the eggplants according to your recipe, cook them in a pan with salt, oil and oregano, or prepare a baked parmigiana with tomato and stringy mozzarella, or make them grilled or fried in abundant seed oil.