Colourful aubergines have different shapes and flavours: round aubergines include those from Murcia, Florence’s violet aubergines and New York’s white giant ones, which are delicate and better if sliced and then cooked. Slim Jim and Italian long aubergines are hot and are better if diced or filled.

 

The health benefits of aubergines

The aubergine pulp, white and compact, is slightly bitter and it becomes brown when you cut it because of oxidation: to avoid this and to make it less bitter, slice it and put the slices in a bowl full of water and salt for an hour. If you don’t want to prepare a filled aubergine, bake it for a quarter of an hour or boil it for a few minutes and then fill it.

 

Aubergines are rich in water and poor in sugars. They are a great source of mineral salts and vitamin C, but, which is more important, they have preventive and therapeutic properties. It is recommended to keep their skin: indeed, it contains a substance that increases the amount of bile, it lowers cholesterol levels, it protects the liver and it triggers the digestion.

 

 Aubergines are also fat-burning vegetables therefore, it is preferable to consume them with fatty foods. So, thumb up for aubergine Parmigiana, an Italian dish rich in cheese and oil but compensated by the purple vegetable.

Tradotto da Francesca Clemente