When to harvest eggplants so they don't turn bitter

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It happens that eggplants turn bitter, and many believe that the reason for this is the thick skin that was not cut off during processing. In fact, a lot depends on the time of harvest, and a little more on the eggplant variety. They are early, medium and late. We will tell you how to harvest.

When eggplants ripen

The vegetable reaches its ripeness 25-40 days after the beginning of flowering, and if there are doubts about the ripening period, you can determine ripeness by appearance.

A ripe “blue” is not blue at all. The skin becomes purple, lilac or white, depending on the variety.

In the cut vegetable, the seeds turn white, and the flesh is elastic, but if overripe, the skin will no longer be so elastic, and the flesh will become hard and bitter.

Immature fruits should also not be removed. These are not tomatoes – they will not ripen on the windowsill.

And if they still taste bitter

As a rule, even young fruits that grew in conditions of moisture deficiency become bitter. Their bitterness is given by solanine, which is harmful to health in large quantities.

How to harvest eggplants

Several eggplants ripen at different times on one sprout, and therefore are harvested in turn.

The fruits are not broken off, but cut with a knife, leaving part of the stalk up to 3-5 cm long.

As for storage, late-ripening varieties are best. Early ones are grown exclusively for fresh consumption, not for storage.