How to Tell If Eggplant Is Bad (2024)

FAQs

How to Tell If Eggplant Is Bad? ›

When buying an eggplant, the flesh should be firm but give slightly when pressed, then bounce back. If your eggplant is soft to the touch, that's an indication that it's beginning to spoil. In addition, if the flesh of the eggplant is slimy, you'll want to throw it away.

A ripe eggplant should be firm to the touch. It may have a slight give when pressed, but it should bounce back. When you cut into an eggplant, the flesh should be mostly white. A few brown spots are fine, but if the eggplant is mostly brown—and slimy with an odor—it's likely gone bad.

Answer. Eggplant flesh will have tan to brown colored spots around the seeds. If this is the color you are referring to, it is edible. If the flesh is more brown than white, the eggplant may be spoiling and should be discarded.

Undercooked eggplant is often bitter, especially if you're using a thick-skinned globe eggplant commonly found at most grocery stores. Peel the skin or taste and cook the eggplant for a little longer if that's the case.

Choosing the Wrong Eggplant

A good meal starts with produce that's top-notch, and eggplants are no exception. "Bruised, wrinkly, or soft eggplants are well past their peak and are likely to be dry and spongy no matter how you prepare them.

It's likely just been exposed to air and is experiencing enzymatic browning. An eggplant with brown spots is not safe to eat if it contains bugs or mold or exhibits other signs of spoilage. It should be thrown out.

Typical symptoms of the soft rot on eggplant fruit started with water-soaking and dark-green lesions. After infection the diseased tissues were rotten rapidly under favorable environmental conditions (Fig. 1A). The pathogen penetrated mainly through wounds on the fruit and rotted rapidly.

Eggplant that is going bad may have dull skin or soft spots and a soft texture. The interior may be completely brown and slimy or may have an unpleasant odor. If your eggplant shows any of these signs, discard it.

Bad eggplant looks wrinkly and dull-colored. Squishy texture and a rotten odor are other common signs of bad eggplant. Fresh eggplant lasts 2-3 days at room temperature, 5 days in the refrigerator, and 8-12 months in the freezer. Eggplant that turns brown after you slice it is okay to eat.

It bruises easily, and those bruises quickly turn bad. (Cut open a dented eggplant, and you'll see that the flesh is brown and corky in the affected area.) It also loses moisture quickly, leading to dry and pithy flesh. When choosing an eggplant, pick one that is heavy for its size; that will be the freshest.

Is under ripe eggplant safe to eat? ›

While solanine can be toxic, the levels in ripe eggplants are typically low and not harmful to humans when consumed in normal food quantities. However, it's crucial to avoid the plant's leaves, stems, and unripe fruit, as they have higher solanine concentrations.

When it's cooked, “it should turn fully tender, all the flesh should be somewhat custardy. If you have to, hammer it a bit, knock it around, let it start to collapse.” When you're roasting eggplant, like in YuChen's recipe, “make sure you give them enough space so they can cook evenly,” she says.

The best eggplant is caramelized and crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth tender on the inside. This is achieved by giving the cubes or slices enough room to brown while they cook. If you overcrowd them in the pan or baking sheet, they'll steam instead of brown and you'll never get that caramelization.

When buying an eggplant, the flesh should be firm but give slightly when pressed, then bounce back. If your eggplant is soft to the touch, that's an indication that it's beginning to spoil. In addition, if the flesh of the eggplant is slimy, you'll want to throw it away.

As in baba ganoush, the aubergine is cooked over hot coals, on an open flame or in a griddle pan until the skin is charred and the insides soft and smoky. Because the outside is essentially cremated, it's a great way to use up ageing aubergine with wrinkly skin or bruising.

Eggplants are mature when the flesh is firm, and has a slight bounce to it when you touch it. If, when touched, a dent is left behind, the eggplant is too mature and should not be eaten. Eggplants can remain at room temperature for several days after harvesting.

If you are uncertain about the cause of an eggplant's brown spots, though, the outlet advises you look for additional signs that the eggplant has gone bad, such as its smell. Per EatingWell, a spoiled eggplant will have a "slimy" texture and a smell on the other end of "fresh and earthy."

A just ripe eggplant when sliced will have soft, well-formed but immature seeds; an immature and unripe eggplant will have no visible seeds; an overripe eggplant will have hard, dark seeds. (Seeds forming inside the fruit cause the skin to go from shiny to dull.)