Due to the biological activity of the substances they contain, the use of eggplants has a positive effect on the state of many organs and on the functioning of many systems of our body.
"Blue" - this is how the people called these wonderful fruits. However, the variety of colors of eggplants is much richer. A rarer name - "Indian berry" - indicates its origin. In India, eggplant was known in culture as early as the 1st millennium BC.
Ancient Greeks and Romans knew about eggplants from European nations. But they called them "rabies apples" and thought that eating them would lead to madness. This prejudice proved to be very persistent and delayed the spread of eggplant in Europe for a long time. And only with the discovery of America, where the Indians widely cultivated eggplants, did the Europeans pay attention to them. In Russia, eggplants have been known since the 17th century.
Eggplant is not the record holder among vegetables for the content of vitamins or any particularly important biochemical compounds. But they contain many different nutrients. There are sugars, tannins, pectin, fiber, and protein.
Eggplant smells like mushrooms when raw, and veal when fried. Such a specific taste, which enhances the secretion of digestive juices and increases appetite, gives the eggplant a high content of potassium salts, tannins and extracts.
The high content of potassium salts in eggplant (up to 265 mg%) helps to normalize water metabolism in the body and improve the work of the heart muscle. They are rich in eggplants and copper salts.
Eggplants contain a lot of pectin substances, a small amount of vitamins C - 5 mg%, B1 - 0.04 mg%, B2 - 0.05 mg%, PP - 0.6 mg%. Of the minerals in eggplants, in addition to potassium, there are quite significant amounts of sodium - 6 mg%, magnesium - 10 mg%, calcium - 13 mg%, phosphorus - 21 mg%, iron - 0.4 mg%, zinc, cobalt.
The healing effect of eggplant on the body is varied. They are especially valuable in the nutrition of patients with atherosclerosis, gout, and in general for elderly and elderly people.
For these purposes, boiled, whole or pureed eggplant is taken, starting from 30-40 g, once a day, gradually increasing the dose to 100 g 1-2 times a day 20-30 minutes before meals.
And in winter they take a decoction of dried eggplant. To do this, pour 1 tablespoon of dry eggplants with 1 glass of boiling water, insist in a water bath for 30 minutes, strain. Take an infusion of 0.3 cups 3 times a day 30 minutes before meals.
With long-term and constant use of these vegetables in food, you can reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood and blood vessel walls by almost half.
Eggplants are distinguished by delicate fiber, and this has a beneficial effect on the digestion processes, significantly improves bile secretion. That is why in the East, eggplants are called "the vegetable of longevity."
The use of eggplants, accepted in many national cuisines, is very useful as a side dish for fatty meat food. Therefore, it is recommended to include eggplant dishes in the menu of those suffering from liver and kidney diseases, gastrointestinal tract. Eggplant is also useful for constipation.
Eggplants normalize water metabolism and prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases, are useful for edema associated with them. And copper, which is abundant in eggplants, has a beneficial effect on hematopoiesis.
Eggplants have a therapeutic effect in urolithiasis, promote the excretion of uric acid salts from the body, the juice of raw eggplants has strong phytoncidal properties. But eggplants are especially useful for children with anemia and for pregnant women. They are also useful for diabetes, because they contain few carbohydrates, and for edema of any origin.
Eggplants help lower blood sugar levels, so they are recommended for diabetic patients; with their help, they also relieve gout - they do not allow uric acid to accumulate in the blood and in the body, an excess of which is one of the reasons for the development of this disease.
In general, eggplants have long been used to treat gout, and official medicine recommends that patients use them as an effective dietary product.
Eggplants contain a lot of fiber, which helps to increase peristalsis. In addition, fiber fibers improve bile secretion and remove toxic metabolic products from the body.
To preserve the teeth, it is useful to constantly clean them with powdered, charred, eggplant. This tool makes teeth whiter and healthy until old age.
Eggplant fruits contain the poisonous alkaloid solanine, which gives them a bitter taste. As the fruit ripens, its content in the fruit increases. Eggplants should be used for food only at the stage of technical maturity, without allowing them to overripe. Therefore, overripe eggplants, which have begun to change their color from blue (purple) to brown, are not recommended to be eaten.
In case of poisoning with solanine, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, intestinal colic, convulsions, and shortness of breath may occur. First aid before the arrival of the doctor - milk, mucous soups, egg white.
Not everyone knows that the constant use of eggplant helps those who want to quit smoking to do it faster and easier. The fact is that eggplants contain niacin, which makes it easier to endure the discomfort associated with quitting smoking.
It should be noted that many housewives cook eggplants incorrectly, negating all their usefulness. After all, fried and pickled eggplants do not bring any benefit and hinder digestion.
Before cooking, the sliced eggplants should be slightly salted and left for 30 minutes, then drain the juice and rinse them - this will leave the bitterness.
The best eggplant dish is cold caviar. Eggplants baked in the oven are peeled, chopped, mixed with herbs - parsley, dill, celery, onions, garlic and tomatoes are added. Such caviar retains all the useful properties of products, and its use has a therapeutic effect in many diseases.
see also Raw eggplant caviar "Odessa".
"Ural gardener" No. 23, 2017
