Eggplant is one of the world healthiest food.
Eggplants belong to the nightshade family of vegetables, which also includes tomatoes,
Brain Food, Rich in Phenolic Antioxidant Compounds, Cardiovascular Health and Free Radical Protection
sweet peppers and potatoes. They grow in a manner much like tomatoes, hanging from the vines of a plant that grows several feet in height. While the different varieties do range slightly in taste and texture, one can generally describe the eggplant as having a pleasantly bitter taste and spongy texture. Long prized for its deeply purple, glossy beauty as well as its unique taste and texture.
Health Benefits
Brain Food
Eggplant, the world healthiest food
Research on eggplant has focused on an anthocyanin phytonutrient found in eggplant skin called nasunin. Nasunin is a potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger that has been shown to protect cell membranes from damage. In animal studies, nasunin has been found to protect the lipids (fats) in brain cell membranes. Cell membranes are almost entirely composed of lipids and are responsible for protecting the cell from free radicals, letting nutrients in and wastes out, and receiving instructions from messenger molecules that tell the cell which activities it should perform.
Rich in Phenolic Antioxidant Compounds
Researchers at the US Agricultural Service in Beltsville, Maryland, have found that eggplants are rich sources of phenolic compounds that function as antioxidants. Plants form such compounds to protect themselves against oxidative stress from exposure to the elements, as well as from infection by bacteria and fungi.
Cardiovascular Health and Free Radical Protection
When laboratory animals with high cholesterol were given eggplant juice, their blood cholesterol, the cholesterol in their artery walls and the cholesterol in their aortas (the aorta is the artery that returns blood from the heart back into circulation into the body) was significantly reduced, while the walls of their blood vessels relaxed, improving blood flow. These positive effects were likely due not only to nasunin but also to several other terpene phytonutrients in eggplant.
Eggplant Jam Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 eggplants
- 1 onion
- Lao Gan Ma chilli source
- 5 tsb olive oil
- 2 tsb vegetable oil
- 1 tsb salt
- 3 tsb sesame seed
- 2 jars
Directions:
- steam eggplant 10 minutes to fully cook.
- stir-fried onion in the low heat to fully cook, add sesame seed on the top let it cook 1 minute, add salt, chilli source and steamed eggplant to mix together and cook 2 minutes.
- put to into 2 jars.
