Japanese eggplant
Solanum melongena · Fruit vegetable
Top 10 pairings
The Japanese eggplant (nasu) is a long, slim, glossy deep purple-black aubergine, a slender Asian type of Solanum melongena prized for thin tender skin, very few seeds and sweet, creamy, almost bitterless flesh. Because it is narrow and thin-walled it cooks fast and stays silky rather than spongy, which makes it the ideal eggplant for quick grilling, stir-fries and the miso-glazed nasu dengaku of Japanese kitchens.
Picking a good onedrag
Glossy, heavy, springs backDull, light, spongy
Shop firmEveryday bestThe all-rounder: roast, fry, stew, parmigiana.
CapCap green, edges drying back
SkinGlossy, a scuff or two
The pressDent fades as you watch
Smell at the capAlmost no smell at all
These cues are Eggplant's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
97%
Edible part
548 g · cap and stem off
565 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
Below 10 °C it pits and its seeds brown; in a 5 °C fridge that takes about a week.
90–95%
Humidity
Loosely bagged
Airflow