Do you love eggplants as much as I do? They are such a seasonal food, only available in the hottest of summer months, and taste delicious in so many ways – in curries, roasted, grilled, and mixed up in dips and spreads like zacusca or baba ganoush.
They are also a crop that does very well here in NE Missouri. They thrive in the hot, humid summers, and even better, our local CSA farmer has a HUGE crop each summer. I grow them in our garden, and also buy dozens of large eggplants to preserve. While I do love to make and pressure can zacusca, a tasty eggplant spread, the simplest way I know how to preserve eggplant for winter is the one I’ll share with you today.
How to Preserve Eggplant
Grill them up!
Simply light your grill as usual and place the eggplant, skin on, on the grill. Check on them frequently, and turn as needed. The goal is to actually blacken the eggplant skin and turn the insides of the eggplant mushy.
Peel them!
Let the eggplants cool until you can handle them, and then peel off the blackened skin. If peeling is difficult, you can also cut them in half and use a spoon to scrape out the innards.
Freeze them!
At this point, you could enjoy them fresh, mixing them into a spread or dip, such as zacusca. But my goal is to preserve eggplant for winter, so I can enjoy the taste of summer year round, so I place the eggplant in quart-sized Ziploc bags and freeze them.
Throughout the winter, we make batches of baba ganoush by thawing the frozen bag, and blending the eggplant in a food processor with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and salt. So, so delicious!
What is your favorite way to enjoy eggplant? Please share in the comments, as I’m always looking for ideas!
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Hi Teri,
Here I simply cut them in big slices , pour olive oil onto them and put them into the oven for about 20 minutes.
Then you could eat them hot or cold on bread slices and add a little bit of fresh goat cheese : just perfect for a snack !
Thank you for your idea about baba ganoush, I’ll try it !
Greetings from France !
Thanks for the suggestion, Cécile! That sounds delicious and easy!
I’ve never eaten an eggplant in my life but you’ve inspire me! I think I’ll run out tomorrow and grab the stuff to make baba ganoush. Thanks for the inspiration!
How did you like it, Chelsea? It’s one of my favorite snacks!
Hi Terri,
Another great article, thanks. Do you mind if I post it (and others) to my Flipboard magazine ‘productive gardening’? I’m always on the lookout for original content for it.
We are also off grid, although in a very different climate, so I love reading your posts.
Cheers Steve
That is fine, Stephen! Thank you for asking, and I’m glad you said hello!
I just made Baba Ganouj yesterday! (Moosewood recipe #1) Had to buy a quart of tahini and I wish you were close so I could share that with you – it will be a long term supply. XoEd
Yum!
This is another great way to freeze eggplant!! I will definitely try this!! The way I like to freeze eggplant is to peel it then slice it. Take the slices and dredge them in flour, then egg, and then last in breadcrumbs and bake until crispy. No frying!! Let the slices cool then place on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. Once slices are frozen I portion them into plastic bags. Can be used for Eggplant Lasagna all winter long!!
That sounds delicious!
Thanks for the tip! I do the same forr hatch chile. Never thought of doing it with my bumper crop of eggplant! Will try.
Carolina
Oh, yes, we do that too! Sometimes my in-laws bring actual hatch chiles with them from the southwest when they visit. Sometimes we roast anaheims. So delicious in the winter! We make lots of tortilla soup that way!
These jars are so pretty! I’ve been canning alot this summer (for my suburban size garden) and these jars would come in handy for my tomato canning, jam canning etc. This is my first summer attempting to can and I am really enjoying it (and so is my hubby!!). thank you.
Teri….
I would also dry slices in the dehydrator.
Worked great for soups, as well as eggplant parmesan (re-hydrate them first for the parmesan).
Yum, yum yum!
hugs,
Melanie
Great idea, Melanie! I’m really missing my dehydrator. I just don’t know if our solar electric system would handle running it. I need to come up with a good off-grid solution! Hope you guys are well!
MotherEarthNews.com has some great plans for solar dehydrators you can look up online. And about every other homestead – homemade contraption you can dream up! They are the ones who got me started down this road many long moons ago…
Thanks Ida! I do love reading Mother Earth News when I have the time. Always great information. A Solar dehydrator should be on my list of things to do…when we find the time!
Sunoven works fine for dehydrating, although it can take a couple of days. Healthy way to do it.