Eggplant Production by Country 2024

Solanum melongena is a plant in the nightshade family, commonly known as an eggplant in most English-speaking countries. It's also known by many other names, such as aubergine in the UK, brinjal in India and baigan in Guyana. Eggplants are grown throughout the world for their edible fruit, although China and India account for the great majority of production.

Description

In its native tropical climate, the eggplant is a perennial, although it's cultivated as an annual in temperate climates. The stem is usually spiny, and the flowers range from white to purple. The color of the fruit varies greatly, depending on the cultivar. Older cultivars have while fruit that closely resemble an egg, which is where the eggplant gets its name. However, the fruit of most common commercial cultivars is deep purple when fully ripe.

Role in Cooking

The fruit of the eggplant is botanically a berry, although it's typically cooked as a vegetable. Its thick flesh has a firm texture that absorbs oils and flavors during cooking, so the eggplant is often used as a meat substitute in vegetarian dishes. Eggplants can also be eaten raw, although the flesh is bitter, with an astringent quality.

The typical method of cooking eggplant in Western cooking is to wash and rinse it before slicing it open and salting it. You can then boil or steam it until tender, which breaks down the chemicals that give it a bitter taste. The skin and seeds are edible at this point, so you don't need to remove them.

Cuisine

Eggplants are a core component of the cuisine in many countries. They're often deep-fried in China and served with meat such as fish, chicken or pork. Eggplants are usually barbecued or roasted and heavily spiced with garlic, chilies and coriander in Yunnan cuisine. In Japanese cuisine, eggplants are typically prepared by grilling and filling them with a meat stuffing, as is the case with hasamiyaki.

The precise origin of the eggplant is unclear, but it's almost certainly somewhere in Southeast Asia where most of commercial production still occurs. The world production of eggplants was 59 million metric tons in 2021, with China and India accounting for 86 percent of this total.

Production

The list below provides the 2021 eggplant production for the top five countries, with figures given in millions of metric tons:

Country | Production

World - 58.6 China - 37.4 India - 12.9 Egypt - 1.3 Turkey - 0.8 Indonesia - 0.7