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Deep purple and delicious

Brinjal is widely grown in our country and is used in several dishes

EASY TO GROW Also known as eggplant or aubergine, brinjal is cultivated extensively in India and North Africa

Brinjal is also known as eggplant or aubergine. It is known as baingan in Hindi, vankaya in Telugu, kathirik kai in Tamil and vazhuthininga in Malayalam. Brinjal belongs to the family Solanaceae.

Though a perennial it is cultivated as an annual throughout India and North Africa. The plant is very branched and spiny attaining a height of 1 metre. The stem is erect or spreading, woody at the base and herbaceous above.

The leaves are simple, alternate, ovate, 15 cm long with toothed margins and covered with woolly hair beneath. The fruits are solitary or in small cymes having deeply lobed and toothed calyx which is persistent, enlarging with the fruit. The fruit is a smooth, glossy firm-fleshed, pendant berry, up to 15 cm long. Usually ovoid, oblong, ranging from white or yellow to deep purple or blackish or even striped. In the flesh of the fruit, numerous small brown kidney-shaped seeds are embedded.

Seeds are sown in the ground or seed pans and the seedlings are transplanted into fertile soil mixed with well decomposed farm yard manure and castor oil cake. Brinjals contain carbohydrates, protein, fats and some minerals. They are fairly a good source of calcium, phosphorous, iron and Vitamin B.

Brinjal is grown widely in our country and many other tropical countries where it is one of the principal vegetables made into chutney, bartha, sambar, pickle, fry or curry with mutton.

CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN

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