History of the eggplant


Primitive man crudely grew eggplant probably centuries before plant cultivation was developed as a scientific process. Charles B. Heiser, a botanist, surmises that of the original wild varieties some probably had spiny stems and many bitter tasting fruits that were no larger than a baseball. Before man developed the alphabet and written communication, he experimented with cultivating food plants by carefully selecting seeds from those plants that tasted less bitter and grew larger fruits.

Historians believe the eggplant may have its origins in India, but early written accounts from a 5th century Chinese record on agriculture called the Ts'i Min Yao Shu indicate its cultivation in China.

Southeast Asia was also considered as a possible place of the eggplant's origin because of the many varieties found there. Some botanists believe that the plant's location of most diversity may be the place of origin, but no definitive proof exists. While eggplant is considered one of Japan's five most important vegetables, the country does not claim it originated there.

Some confusion exists about the date of the Chinese references. Some give the date as 500 BCE, while others claim it was the 5th century CE. Li-Hui-Lin writes in his Vegetables of Ancient China that records indicate China was growing eggplant in vegetable gardens from 500 BCE; however, they may not have considered it an edible until the second century BCE. As eggplant migrated throughout Asia, round shapes as well as slender elongated fruits were developed along with a variety of colors. The Koreans, too, were enjoying eggplant since ancient times.

Eggplant arrived on the European scene when the Moors invaded Spain during the 8th century. The Italians encountered the fruit through trading with the Arabs about the 13th century. What the Europeans saw with the first arrivals of eggplant were egg-shaped fruits that were either purple, white, or yellow. Before the fruit was accepted as an edible food, it was grown only for its appealing ornamental qualities.

While the eggplant is not mentioned in classic Greek or Roman records, the fruit became quite familiar by the15th century. Throughout the 1500's Spanish and Portuguese explorers brought the eggplant to Central and North America during their many voyages. The fruit readily adapted to its new environment and flourished in the warm climates. Along with eggplant, the Spanish introduced onions, garlic, carrots, turnips, lentils, peaches, cherries, oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit when they set up colonies in Mexico.

While the 16th century Spanish explorers enjoyed the new foods they encountered in the Caribbean, they also missed their familiar diet. Subsequent ships came to the Islands bringing their favorite foods, including eggplant. The thriving slave trade also brought the fruit to the Islands from Africa. Heat loving plants such as eggplant thrived and became familiar additions to the Caribbean gardens.

During the 16th and17th centuries, English, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese explorers sailed to distant lands and discovered fruits and vegetables that they had never seen or eaten before. When they returned to their homelands with these new foods, some were readily accepted, many were not. Eggplant's nightshade connections rendered it a food of suspicious nature.

By the middle of the 1500's Southern Europe was introduced to the eggplant, but the meeting was not a friendly one at first. The strange fruits were thought to be dangerous. Eggplant's acceptance as an edible food came about a century later.

Louis XIV, King of France during the 1600s, took great interest in impressing diners at his royal table with new plant foods and was the first in France to introduce eggplant into his garden. Eggplant did not enrapture the King's guests at first. The fruit was actually discouraged at that time with the following description: "fruits as large as pears, but with bad qualities." The urban legend of the time was that eating eggplant caused fever and epilepsy.

When the first eggplants were brought to Northern Europe during the 1600s, they were not the beautiful, purple, plump one-pounder's we find in today's supermarket bins. John Gerard, a 16th century horticulturist, saw a different fruit altogether and provides this description: "the fruit . . . [is] great and somewhat long, of the bigness of a Swans egg, and sometimes much greater, of a white color, sometimes yellow, and often brown."

The late 1700's brought the French enlightenment and changed attitudes about the fruit. Devouring grilled eggplant became a fad of the rowdy incroyables and the elegant merveileuses who partied at France's Palais Royale.

Russia experienced growth and expansion during the 16th,17th, and 18th centuries. As the Russians moved into the warmer regions of the Ukraine, they were able to grow more fruits and vegetables including eggplants that probably traveled northward from India or China.

John Parkinson, an English 17th century horticulturist, mentions "that in Italy and other hot countries, where they [the fruits] come to their full maturity, and proper relish, they [the people] do eat them with more desire and pleasure than we do Cucumbers."

Thomas Jefferson, son of a Virginia planter and third president of the United States, was an avid gardener and one who sought every opportunity to introduce new plants into his enormous collection through European seed imports during the 1700s. Eggplant was one of many exotic food plants he welcomed into his impressive, estate garden in Monticello.

Botanists of the 19th century considered the eggplant an ornamental rather than an edible. The fruit may have been introduced into American gardens in the early 1800's where it was grown as an ornamental. Slow to earn acceptance, it was not commonly eaten as a food until the late 1800's or early 1900's.

Though eggplant was little known in the average household of the mid 1800's, it was one of President Andrew Johnson's favorite foods, especially Stuffed Eggplant Spanish Style. Prepared for intimate gatherings, the eggplant was first halved and the flesh chopped. The stuffing was a combination of tomatoes, onions, breadcrumbs, and celery, and seasoned with basil butter, salt, pepper, and a touch of sugar. Before they were served, the eggplants were garnished with overlapping fresh tomato slices and a strip of broiled bacon.

With the arrival of Chinese and Italian immigrants to the U.S. during the late 1800s, new cuisines established permanent residence. Many cities, such as Detroit and New York, offered immigrant gardeners the use of vacant lots to grow their familiar vegetables like eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers.

Eggplant was developing a firm foothold in the U.S. by the early 1900's
 

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