Excess eggplant! The Chinese String eggplant just kicked out another round, about 2.5 lbs plus another one from the Millionaire plant. What to do with it all?

5th Gear found a new eggplant salsa recipe and made it yesterday, canning up nine half pints. It's pretty good, maybe even better once it's had time to age a little in the jars.

okay...what is 5th gear?

What is the salsa recipe? I never considered eggplant for salsa.

I will post the recipe below.

It looks like I didn't proofread before posting. 5th Gear is my sister's name on a different forum. She really boogies on teh riding lawn mower.

Eggplant Salsa
- Recipe from Canadian Living, lab-tested for safety)

500g eggplant, peeled and diced (8 cups/1 1.4 lbs measured after prep
1 TBS salt
400g red pepper, roasted and peeled (2 cups/14oz measured after prep) (we used green and they were fine)
1.2 kg tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped (5 cups/2.5 lbs measured after prep (we subbed two 28 oz cans of petite diced w/liquid)
3 cloves garlic, minced
250 g. onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups/8 oz measured after prep
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (we left this out)
1 1/2 tsp chili flakes (we subbed 1/2 tsp cayenne)
125 ml red wine vinegar (5% or higher. 1/2 cup/4 oz)
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

- Wash and peel eggplant. Dice into 1/2" pieces. Put into a bowl and mix with 2 tsp of the salt. Cover and let stand 2 hours, tossing occasionally.
- Meanwhile, prep (or purchase) the roasted peppers and the tomatoes and set aside.
- Squeeze out any excess moisture remaining in the eggplant; discard liquid. Set eggplant aside.
- Peel and mince the garlic; set aside.
- Finely chop the onion, measure and set aside.
- Put a large saucepan over medium heat and when hot, add the fennel seed and hot pepper flakes, toasting them for a minute until aroma is released.
- Add reserved eggplant, roasted pepper, tomato, garlic, onion and all remaining ingredients; stir well.
- Cover pan, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer covered for 10 minutes.
Uncover and simmer for around another 15 minutes or until mixture has thickened a bit. (not too much as it will thicken more once it has cooled.) Stir periodically.
- Ladle salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. Run knife or chopstick through contents to release any air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary.
- Wipe jar rims, and put lids on. Process in water bath for 20 minutes. Adjust time if necessary for your altitude.

Thanks.So essentially it is 20% eggplant in the salsa with 50% tomatoes and 5% vinegar. I was wondering how much eggplant it would be.

Roasted and peeled peppers. That sounds like some work. I knew there was a catch. Do you think this salsa is really good with the eggplant?

I still have a lot of jars of cubed eggplant straight up pressure canned from a couple years ago. It just has not moved, as we only use it for adding to soups. I wanted to find another way to use it, but never did. So now it is being fed to the dogs to supplement their kibble that now costs..drumroll..$56.99 for 30 lbs.

Yep, this salsa is really good. I made some pita chips yesterday and we went through a half pint jar while watching football. You can adjust the heat level to suit yourself. I'd also add a tad more salt but only after making it first and tasting.

You can use regular peppers if you want. It's not much time to roast them over a stove burner and then just let them sit and cool while you;re prepping the other stuff. The skin comes right off and then you chop up the peppers.

Pickles also canned up some eggplant caponata. which is also good. A bit more tangy and probably better on bruschetta than pita chips.

By a stove burner, you mean a gas flame? Glass top electric, here. I'd need to run the convection oven, I think. Or maybe bank some charcoal. That might work.

Yeah, gas flame. It's what I use when I don't have the charcoal up and running in the grill. A gas grill would work too. And I've been known to fire up a little pile of sticks and branches that are laying around if I want the smoke enhancement.