Cracking Open the Eggplant

Posted on | September 3, 2008 |

The last couple weeks at our CSA we have received large, beautiful and firm eggplants. These indigo berries grow in Portland at this time of year so we’ve been eating plenty of them: fried, eggplant parmesan, ratatouille, etc…

The eggplant itself is native to India and Sri Lanka, but has been cultivated in most other parts of the world. It requires a long warm season for the best yields, but somehow, we seem to get a fair amount of it coming out of our local farms. Aubergines (another name for eggplants) are far more susceptible to cold than their cousins, the tomato, and on account of this, the gardener must be very careful to plant them in ground that is warming and isn’t at risk of becoming cold again. One would think that these properties would prevent them from growing at all during our wacky Portland summer seasons, but it does tell us why they are presented at the markets here at the beginning of fall. They require the full summer season to bask in sun.

The Qi Min Yao Shu makes reference to the growing of eggplant in China, and so we know that the Chinese knew about growing this berry by the late 6th Century. The etymology of this word offers up some important information for the practitioner of Chinese medicine. The berry was known as the brinjal in India, and in Sanskrit was known as vatin-gana, meaning, “the plant that cures wind.”The first surgeon in the world, Susruta, used auberines in collective formula for epilepsy. Once the Arabs started cultivating it (at around the same time as the Chinese), they called the plant al-badinjan. The French turned the Arabic word into aubergine, and that was that! In Italy, the plant was known as melanzana, or “the mad apple.” If there is any wonder as to why they are called “eggplants” in English, it is easy to see when looking at the white variety:

Because eggplant requires so much sunlight for it’s growth, it is interesting to note that it’s berry responds to this by forming a thick skin - in one case indigo and in another case white. In Chinese medicine, white eggplant can be boiled and the water given to patients who are suffering from cough. This shows an interesting correlation between the white color and the metal phase element which goes with the lung, as well as the relationship between skin and lung. As of yet, I haven’t seen white eggplant available at the markets in Portland, but if it ever is, I will definitely have to snatch some up and dry the skin for the winter.

The skin of the eggplant contains a chemical called, nasunin. This nasunin is pretty cool stuff, mostly because it’s shown to have both antioxidant properties (most likely the indigo variety has far more of this) and it prevents angiogenesis. What is angiogenesis you say? Well, if you didn’t feel like clicking on the link I threw in there, angiogenesis is the generation of new blood cells - which sounds pretty good, unless you’ve got a nice little tumor growing somewhere that wants to reach out and touch a food source. The combination of antioxidant and antiangiogenic that nasunin has is a phenomenal resource for our skin. In order to reproduce itself, the aubergine had to figure out how to toughen up it’s fruit so that it could withstand the sun without mutating and at the same time be strong enough to resist fungal and bacterial growth. When we eat an eggplant, or drink a tea made from it, or simply rub it on our skin, we infuse ourselves or our patients with that power.

So, what else? Why else would any TCM or CCM practitioner care about eggplant? Well, it’s considered to be cooling in Chinese medicine. It’s also ripening and being distributed in Portland at the very beginning of the fall season. If we can give our patients balanced recipes for eggplant and recommend their eating it, this plant will help clear heat from the blood and help the body to follow the natural course of the sun at this time of year. Eggplant improves the circulation, thus helping to get all of the nutrients where they need to be during this killing/harvesting season so that the body can start organizing and preparing to get things into storage for the winter.

For patients suffering from colitis, constipation, bleeding in the digestive organs, ulcers, tumors and other intestinal pain, eggplant can be a highly beneficial food. Because of the previously mentioned antioxidant and antiangiogenic behavior, it’t not only great for our skin, but for our entire digestive lining. Eggplant is high in potassium and so can help with potassium deficiency (signs of which include hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, muscle weakness/cramps, myalgia and constipation).

Eggplant soaks up a lot of oil (four times more than potatoes can when fried), but it’s been shown to impede blood cholesterol levels from rising after consumption of fatty foods. Therefore, if patients have elevated cholesterol, it wouldn’t be a bad recommendation to have them eat some eggplants with their oils/fats.

As the eggplant has been cultivated, it has become larger and less bitter. Even so, I prefer to slice it or julienne it and sprinkle some salt over it and let it sit for 1/2 hour or so. Afterwards, I put it in a colander in the sink and rinse it well and then blot it dry with a towel. I find that the flavor is much better this way and it cooks up more nicely. Some vendors coat the eggplant with wax to prevent it from losing it’s moisture (eggplants are 90% water). It is best to buy your eggplant from a local farmers market, in which case you are supporting sustainable agriculture for your area, buying the fruit at the time it naturally grows near you and making sure that you don’t get a large helping of wax with your dinner.

For patients with arthritis and joint pain, it may be best to avoid eggplant. The fruit contains solanine, as do all of the nightshades. Solanine can prevent the absorption of calcium when it’s taken in large quantities. Solanine acts as a natural fungicide and pesticide that the nightshade’s use as a defense. The largest consumption of solanine actually comes from potatoes, so if advising your patient not to eat eggplant or other nightshades, make sure that they avoid potatoes also. However, the solanine itself has been shown to have anticonvulsive and sedative properties, and this is probably the reason why it worked so well for Susruta in his anti-epilepsy medicine, and is often used to help with asthma.

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I'm a Chinese medicine student who uses this blog as a place to store my thoughts and occasionally rant and rave about things I trip over in life.

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