Pickled eggplants are made by slicing and straining the eggplants before sealing them in sterilized jars with spices and vinegar. Proper equipment, such as Mason jars with rubber seals, is important. Recipes may involve cooking or not, and the eggplant is often combined with olive oil and flavorings before being preserved. They can last up to a year when stored properly.
Pickled eggplants are a type of preserved vegetable normally made by first washing and slicing the eggplants before straining the juices and then sealing the slices in sterilized glass jars. The eggplant pieces are sometimes flavored with spices according to the preferences of different cooks, and vinegar is also a common ingredient in pickled eggplants. Some eggplant recipes involve cooking, while others don’t. Properly producing these pickled vegetables generally requires a canning kit with jars that can be properly sealed to prevent contamination during storage.
Cooks experienced in canning often argue that the most important part of making pickled eggplant is choosing the right equipment. Mason jars with rubber seals around the rims are designed to keep stored foods safely stored for relatively long periods of time. Some newcomers to canning-making reuse jars that originally held sauces or condiments, but this practice is generally considered risky due to the increased chances of harmful bacterial invasion. Other pickled eggplant canning tools include a saucepan large enough to sterilize the jars and a pair of tongs for removing them from the boiling water.
Once the pickling jars are properly sterilized in boiling water and removed to cool, the eggplant is usually cut into thin strips about 0.2 inch (about 0.5 cm) wide. Many recipes instruct the home cook to place these eggplant pieces in a colander and then squeeze out the juices that would otherwise make the pickle bitter. Adding a coating of salt to the eggplant is another step in the common recipe and the eggplant juices are usually strained through the colander under the weight of a heavy bowl.
Recipes that call for cooked eggplant often call for the vegetable to be boiled in a vinegar-water mixture or spread out on a baking sheet and cooked in the oven. Choosing these methods is usually a matter of individual preference. Before the cooked eggplant is transferred to the preserving jars, it is typically combined with a blend of olive oil and your chosen flavoring ingredients such as garlic, mint, cayenne pepper, basil, lemon, or honey. Additional olive oil is usually added to pickled eggplants in jars to preserve the vegetable’s moisture. When properly stored, pickled eggplants can have a shelf life of up to a year, just like with other types of preserved foods.
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