{"id":103280,"date":"2015-04-17T22:36:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T12:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=103280"},"modified":"2015-04-17T22:36:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T12:36:26","slug":"what-came-first-the-egg-or-the-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/04\/17\/what-came-first-the-egg-or-the-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"What Came First &#8230; The Egg Or The Plant?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ford-on-food-d.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ford-on-food-d.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Ford On Food\" width=\"210\" height=\"350\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-77803\" srcset=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ford-on-food-d.jpg 210w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/ford-on-food-d-180x300.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><strong>April 16, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>by Jason Ford<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/fordonfood.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ford on Food<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Aubergine is often referred to as &#8220;eggplant&#8221; and is commonly used as a vegetable, but it\u2019s actually as a fruit related to tomatoes and potatoes.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the fruit itself is botanically classified as a berry.<\/p>\n<p>And &#8211; believe it or not &#8211; the aubergine plant is a close relative of the tobacco plant.<\/p>\n<p>Aubergines originated in South East Asia, but they are widely used in Italian, Mediterranean, French and Middle Eastern cuisines.<\/p>\n<p>There are many varieties of aubergine. Some are small and pea shaped, and some are large pumpkin-like in shape and size.<\/p>\n<p>Colours vary from green to cream, and dark purple to yellow.<\/p>\n<p>Aubergines can be served hot or cold, braised, baked, battered and deep-fried, grilled, pan-fried, barbecued, stuffed, blended and pureed.<\/p>\n<p>The most famous dishes made from aubergine are ratatouille (not the movie), moussaka, baba ghanoush and imam bayildi.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m a big fan of aubergines, especially grilled slices.<\/p>\n<p>However they can be a little bitter in their original form. <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because they contain the highest level of nicotine of any vegetable, though not enough to be additive.<\/p>\n<p>You would have to eat around 10kg of raw eggplant to consume the equivalent amount of nicotine found in one cigarette.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, if an eggplant is particularly bitter it may need to be degorged, which means removing its moisture and the bitterness with it, as in the recipe below:<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Grilled Eggplant<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/aubergines-640x640.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/aubergines-640x640.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"aubergines-640x640\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-103281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/aubergines-640x640.png 300w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/aubergines-640x640-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/aubergines-640x640-50x50.png 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><strong>Ingredients:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One aubergine (eggplant)\n<li>Salt\n<li>Extrea virgin olive oil\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Method:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cut the eggplant into round slices approximately 1cm thick\n<li>Place the slices into a colander and sprinkle them liberally with salt\n<li>Weigh the whole lot down with a heavy plate to help squeeze out the water\n<li>Leave them for at least half an hour, then rinse them off under cold running water\n<li>Pat each slice dry with paper towel\n<li>The slices can now be grilled on a barbecue plate to golden brown, and then drizzled with high quality olive oil\n<\/ol>\n<p>Serve with an antipasto of sun dried tomatoes, olives, feta cheese etc.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/ford-on-food\/\">Read more Ford On Food columns<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aubergine is often referred to as &#8220;eggplant&#8221; and is commonly used as a vegetable, but it\u2019s actually as a fruit related to tomatoes and potatoes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":103281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[595],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Came First ... 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