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Eggplant: The Fruit

Eggplant small round1

The eggplant is a fruit not a vegetable.

Botanically speaking a fruit is the ripened ovary–including the seeds–of a flowering plant. That means that many foods called vegetables when cooking are actually fruits. That list would include squash, pumpkin, cucumber, sweet pepper, tomato and eggplant.

Does that make ratatouille technically a kind of fruit sald? No, because culinary speaking, a fruit is usually any sweet tasting plant with seeds. (Did you just flash on the sweet tasting rhubarb? There are exceptions to every rule, aren’t there.)

A one-pound fresh eggplant contains 117 calories–about 76 when cooked, 1 gram of fat, 28 carbohydrates, 992 mg of potassium, and 387 international units of Vitamin A.

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Written by Stephen Albert

Stephen Albert is a horticulturist, master gardener, and certified nurseryman who has taught at the University of California for more than 25 years. He holds graduate degrees from the University of California and the University of Iowa. His books include Vegetable Garden Grower’s Guide, Vegetable Garden Almanac & Planner, Tomato Grower’s Answer Book, and Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide. His Vegetable Garden Grower’s Masterclass is available online. Harvesttotable.com has more than 10 million visitors each year.