Eggplant

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is an annual of the nightshade family, a relative of the potato and chili pepper. It is thought to have originated in India and to have reached the Korean peninsula by way of China, probably around the fifth or sixth century. The Sino-Korean name is gaja.

Korea's eggplants were noticed abroad early. Song-dynasty Chinese herbal writing, later quoted by Korean scholars, describes the eggplants grown in Silla as glossy and purple, shaped like an egg, and sweet enough to be taken to China and planted there. In the Goryeo period the poet Yi Gyu-bo wrote verses about the vegetables in his home garden, praising eggplant as good both raw and boiled, which suggests how ordinary it already was on the table.

The plant likes heat and moist soil and is grown throughout the country, mostly from transplanted seedlings; it needs an unusually long nursery period for a vegetable. Fruits are picked about two to three weeks after flowering, before the seeds mature. Of the round, oval and long types, Korean growers mainly raise the long, slim kind.

The classic preparation is namul: the eggplant is steamed or boiled, torn into strips and seasoned. It is also mixed into rice, grilled, stir-fried, steamed, battered and fried, and made into kimchi. Strips of eggplant dried in the sun, gaji-goji, are one of the preserved "old namul" traditionally prepared for Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the lunar year.

• Light vegetable: Raw eggplant is about 92% water and provides roughly 25 kcal per 100 g.
• Fiber: It is a source of dietary fiber and also provides some potassium and manganese.
• Cooking method matters: Eggplant absorbs oil readily, so pan-fried or deep-fried preparations carry far more fat and calories than steamed gaji-namul.
• Traditional use: Korean herbal texts describe eggplant as a cooling food; this is a traditional belief rather than an established health effect.