Eggplant Preserves Recipe
Not sure about the origins of eggplant preserves, but it’s surely one of popular preserves in Armenia. May sound a little strange: veggie and sugar preserves, they don’t have much in common, taste wise, but trust me this unique preserves may become one of your absolute favorites, if you give it a try. This is pretty similar to pumpkin preserves, by the way, I do have a tutorial for that on my channel, and would highly recommend to try that decadent treat, when you get a chance. The method and most of the steps are pretty similar to pumpkin preserves, so if you are familiar with that one, making an eggplant preserves won’t be anything new. Have to admit, that, the making is time taking and requires a little bit of effort. But it’s doable and everyone can make it successfully, if all steps are followed promptly.
I’ve got so many requests from my Facebook and instagram followers to post a recipe and tutorial eggplant preserves, and decided to go for it.
Hope you’ll try and like it!
Good luck!
Ingredients
1 ½ lbs mini eggplants, or small Italian eggplants, be sure to choose fresh and hard veggies, if choosing regular size veggies, cut those into 1”-2” cubes or rectangles after peeling
For sugar syrup
5 cups boiling hot water
4 cups sugar (when doubling the recipe use :11 cups water+8 cups sugar)
2 tsp vanilla extract
The juice of one medium lemon , I sliced it thinly, and used only half, but the recipe calls for the juice only
1 stick of cinnamon
1 tsp whole cloves
Peels ginger roof,small piece, about a size of a walnut, sliced in half (optional)
Walnut halves or pieces (optional)
For salt and soda mixture
7-8 cups cold water
1 tbs salt
2 tbs baking soda
For pickling lime mixture
½ cup pickling lime
8 cups water
Directions
*Start by prepping the salt and soda water, simply mix and stir everything in a bowl and set aside
*Peel the eggplants and place in salt-soda mixture for 10-15 minutes, be sure to place a weight on top (wear gloves while peeling)
*Prepare the pickling lime-water mixture, set aside
*Remove from salty water and rinse the eggplants
*Place the eggplants into pickling lime + water mixture and allow to set 5-8 hours
*After 5-8 hours, wash the veggies very well, and place in a bowl filled with cold water, change the water as it becomes foggy
As the water gets clear, start cooking the syrup
Making the syrup
In a pot combine hot water and sugar, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes
While that’s cooking, poke the eggplants with a toothpick or fork, that will help to absorb the syrup
Add the eggplants to the boiling syrup and cook 45-50 minutes, over medium-low heat, stir once in a while to help the veggies cook evenly
The color will get darker as they cook, the veggies should look slightly translucent
Add the spices: vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger, cloves
Turn off the heat and allow the preserves to cool down almost completely 25-35 minutes
Restart cooking on medium to low heat, and cook another 20-25 minutes
Store in glass jars, allow to cool down to room temperature and place in the fridge
Optionally you can stuff cooked eggplants with walnuts, refer to YouTube tutorial for more details
Enjoy!
