The nice nickname "eggplant" describes the oval shape of the mostly dark violet aubergines very aptly. The heat-loving vegetable only keeps for a few days, so pickling is a good option for preserving eggplants.

Pickled eggplants are delicious and keep for a very long time

Put the aubergines in oil

When pickling eggplants in oil, two points are particularly important:

  1. Excess water must be removed from the vegetables before pickling.
  2. A good olive oil is essential for the taste of the ready-pickled aubergines.

So you should not skimp when buying oil, because a bad olive oil can spoil the flavor of all your pickled aubergines. To remove the water from the aubergines, you can either sear or grill them dry, i.e. without oil, or sprinkle with salt, leave to rest and then pat dry.

The following recipe is a tried-and-true variant of eggplant pickled in oil. The vegetables can be kept for about six months this way:

  1. Wash the aubergines, remove both ends and cut the vegetables into 1 cm thick slices.
  2. Heat a grill pan and fry the aubergines in it without oil, briefly but sharply.
  3. Prepare a marinade of vinegar and water (ratio 2:1), salt and spices. When the aubergine slices are grilled, leave them warm for at least four hours.
  4. Layer the marinated eggplants in a sterile sealable jar along with seasonings to taste. Pour some oil over each layer.
  5. Finally, fill the glass to the top with olive oil.
  6. To ensure there is no air between the eggplant layers, gently shake the tightly sealed jar and periodically turn it upside down for a few minutes for the first few days after soaking.

Sour the aubergines

Pickled aubergines can be kept for at least a year if they have been carefully preserved. The following recipe is a basic recipe that can be refined with various spices as desired. If you pickle several types of vegetables together, you can make mixed pickles.

  1. Wash and trim the aubergines and cut them into cubes.
  2. Salt the eggplant cubes heavily, place them in a colander and let the salt soak in for at least an hour.
  3. Gently squeeze excess water from the eggplant cubes.
  4. Put on a sufficiently large saucepan in which you bring the water and vinegar in a ratio of 2:1 together with salt and spices to the boil.
  5. Add the aubergine cubes and bring the stock to the boil again.
  6. Put the aubergines in glasses and fill them up with the liquid.
  7. Cook the jars with the pickled aubergines for half an hour at 90 °C in a saucepan or in the oven to ensure a long shelf life.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden