Florida Grown White Asian Eggplant

Wellington, Fla.--Fresh Florida grown white Asian eggplant is delicious. They are a unique, slim, cucumber-like shaped eggplant with pale white, thin skin. Their sweet, delicate flavor lacks the bitterness usually associated with purple, Italian eggplant.

Florida grown white Asian eggplant, Wellington, Fla.
Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey

I bought some earlier this month, which had been picked the day before, from the Seed To Bloom booth at the Wellington Green Market in south Florida. I choose the tiniest eggplant I could find. They cost $4 a pound.

I took them home and immediately started preparing them for dinner.

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and lined a backing sheet with aluminum foil. Next I cut off all the green tops off each eggplant and slit them, lengthways, in half from top to tail making them look like thick string beans.

Then I tossed them in safflower oil (a high smoke/heat oil). 

If you are allergic to daisies do not use this safflower oil. Instead use another high smoke oil like coconut, macadamia nut or grape seed oil.

I placed each oiled eggplant strip on the aluminum foiled baking sheet leaving about a quarter inch of gap between each strip.

Oven baked Florida grown white Asian eggplant, Wellington,
Fla. Copyright 2016 by Helen A Lockey

I put the tray into the oven and cooked the eggplant for 30 minutes until they were golden brown.

They were creamy, crunchy and slightly sweet in flavor.