Canning eggplants for the winter is more relevant than ever. For example, you can make several preparations that are great, such as Eggplant Appetizers or Eggplant Side Dish.
Eggplants can be salted, fermented, pickled in brine or oil, canned with stuffed vegetables. Sweet peppers, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, zucchini are ideal companions for eggplants. You can also use different sauces to preserve eggplants at home, for example, tomatoes. They will add spiciness to your dish.
Eggplant is low-calorie - 100 g of preparation will yield about 50 calories. That is why those who care about their weight can and should introduce this into their winter diet. This vegetable is rich in potassium, which is preserved even when canned, which means that it is able to support the function of the heart and improve water metabolism.
Eggplants help maintain optimal cholesterol levels, improve blood formation and normalize the functions of the spleen, intestines and kidneys.
It is an excellent product for maintaining bone marrow function, preventing anemia and normalizing hemoglobin and red blood cell levels.
All these beneficial properties of eggplants can be explained by the presence of vitamins B, B2, C, PP, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and sodium in eggplants.
The only thing to remember about regular consumption of eggplants is that they contain the unhealthy substance solanine, which can cause serious poisoning. Its maximum concentration is found in overripe eggplants, so it's important to choose ripe ones, but not overripe ones.
It is believed that it is better not to eat raw eggplants, therefore, even if you keep the raw vegetable, use it only as a semi-cooked product.
Methods for preserving eggplants
According to the type of preservation eggplant dishes are divided into ready-to-eat and semi-cooked products. The former can be consumed immediately after opening the jar. The latter are preserved fresh in order to prepare something from them in the future. You can only make canned eggplants or combine them with other vegetables.
Very often eggplant salad is canned, which contains a variety of vegetables, spices and herbs. The most popular way to preserve eggplants is in the form of vegetable caviar or pate.
To preserve ready-made dishes with eggplant, you can use both boiled, fried, oven-baked and stewed vegetables. But the preparations made from whole grilled fruits are especially delicious - aromatic, with smoky flavor. Such an eggplant appetizer will remind you of summer, barbecue and summer villa in winter.
If you want to preserve the maximum benefits and vitamins, then preserve fresh eggplants, for example, sprinkling pieces of vegetables with salt or pouring them with a strong salt solution. This way you will have a batch of fresh eggplants on hand that can be used in various dishes throughout the winter. You can also put green leaves there, which will also remain full of vitamins in the salt.
Secrets of preserving eggplants
For canning, choose the vegetable with a round shape, medium size, without damage to the skin, with dense and soft pulp at the same time, with medium-sized seeds, without noticeable gaps.
In order to get tasty and aromatic preparations, it is important to prepare the vegetables correctly. If you plan to salt or pickle the fruits, then you should not remove all the skin from them, then they will retain their natural shape and the taste of the dish will be more pleasant.
The bitterness inherent in eggplant is removed quite simply - the washed and peeled vegetables are pierced in several places with a fork, sprinkled with salt and left at room temperature for half an hour. Then rinse well under cold water.
If you cut the eggplants for canning into circles or pieces, then to prevent them from darkening, it is best to put them in cold water after cutting with the addition of lemon juice.
If you plan to make caviar, then in no case should you pass the eggplants through a meat grinder and do not cut it with a metal knife. Your caviar runs the risk of acquiring an unpleasant metallic taste. Ceramic knives and wooden knives are the best choices for preparing the eggplant caviar ingredients.
If you are canning roasted eggplants then roast them for a short time and at a high temperature - then the fleshy part of the vegetable will remain light and visually attractive. It is in roasted eggplants that the maximum amount of nutrients is stored, so we recommend this method of preparing this vegetable.
Roasted eggplants are better digested by humans, which is another plus in favor of choosing this preparation method. For canning, use only clean, odorless jars.
After the process of preparing the jarred eggplant, they are sterilized in the standard way and placed upside down until they cool down.
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