Aubergine | Solanum melongena, Solanaceae

Gayle Chong Kwan, Aubergine, collage, 2011

Aubergine
Solanum melongena, Solanaceae

The plant is native to India, it helps to block the formation of free radicals and is also a source of folic acid and potassium.  It is richer in nicotine than any other edible plant. Production of aubergine is highly concentrated, with 85% of output coming from five countries. China is the top producer (56% of world output) and India is second (26%); Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia round out the top producing nations.

Imam Bayildi is the name of a popular Turkish dish that means "the imam fainted". It is made of braised aubergine and meat. According to the legend it was so good that after eating it an Imam passed out.

Achmed Sen, Pyramidengärten

To make a great sataras add a spoon of Vegeta, Yugoslavian dried vegetables, and a spoon of fresh ajvar (a cream of roasted aubergines and peppers with chilli).

Almira-Ada Mesic, Gärten Rosenduft

In this box, onions and garlics have been put side by side. I am not sure that it is a good idea, as they will be "fighting" between them. Usually it is better if you put plants together to have  those that grow differently, for instance, potatoes that grow in the ground can be with aubergines, which grow one metre tall. All these plants have just one cycle of production each year, but in the tropics they can have two or three.

Severin Halder, Allmende-Kontor

To make a great sataras...

To make a great sataras, add a spoon of Vegeta, Yugoslavian dried vegetables, and a spoon of fresh ajvar (a cream of roasted aubergines and peppers with chilli).

a bosnian recipe

Indeed I really love sataras, that is mixed vegetables, just vegetables. Moreover we use many of them for medicinal purposes: peppermint for instance and also roots, many different ones. Also parsley is used, it’s very good when dried to drink, it’s also good for the bladder. However when I am ill what makes me feel better it is just börek. We eat a lot but many different sorts, here it’s known just with cheese and meat, but we have it also with potatoes, pumpkin...

Almira-Ada Mesic, Bosnian, Gärten Rosenduft

Vegetables stew 

(sataras)

1 Kg red onions
1/2 Kg aubergines
1/2 Kg peppers
1Kg tomatoes

Cut the vegetables in little cubes.
First cook the onions in a pot with a little bit of oil.
Then put the aubergines and the peppers (roast them a little bit)
and after some minutes the tomatoes.
Add a little bit of water.
Cook for ca. 20 min then add pepper and salt.

A pumpkin and a pumpkin

a twinning for many others

This article is about an African plant, known as the Ugu, among other names. For other uses, see Ugu (disambiguation).


Telfairia occidentalis 

Telfairia occidentalis is a tropical vine grown in West Africa as a leaf vegetable and for its edible seeds. Common names for the plant include Fluted gourd, Fluted pumpkin, and Ugu.
The plant is a drought-tolerant, dioecious perennial that is usually grown trellised. The young shoots and leaves of the female plant are the main ingredients of a Nigerian soup, edikang ikong. The large (up to 5 cm), dark-red seed is rich in fat and protein, and can be eaten whole, ground into powder for another kind of soup, or made into a fermented porridge. The fruit of the plant is large, weighing up to 13 kg, but inedible.


Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Telfairia
Species: T. occidentalis

A tipical recipe from Nigeria

What I love most from my country is ekpan-nkukwo, it is a sort of pudding made of cocoyam, fish, meat or whatever cooked for a long time... when I am home sick I always have it!

And when I have a cold or simply the weather is cold, I take a pepe soup. Black pepper leaves are very aromatic and healthy and make you warmer, we use simple methods.

Vegetagles, vegetable, vegetables!!!

Susann, Nigerian, Rosenduft Garden

The women of the Rosenduft Gaerten

going to rosenduft gaerten

the new season

small steams

the women

I arrived as a refugee in Berlin from Bosnia in 1995, because of the war. In my country I had a very big garden where I cultivated a lot of vegetables, I am fond of them! Indeed I really love Sataras, that is mixed vegetables, just vegetables. Moreover we use many of them for medicinal purposes: peppermint for istance and also roots, many different ones. Also parseley is used, it’s very good, dried to drink, it’s also good for bladder. However when I am ill what feel me better it is just börek! We eat a lot but many different sorts, here it’s known just with cheese and meat, but we have it also with potatoes, pumpkin, with all possible.

Almira-Ada, Bosnian 

cultivating

the new plants

the women

great efforts!

I had to leave my country when I was 16 because of the war. There I helped my parents in the garden and we had almost everything: cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, parsley, carrots... here in berlin I have my own garden and I do not miss any ingredient because, coming from an European country, on gardenplants, ist almost the same as in Germany.

Seka, Bosnian

planting seeds

rosenduft gaerten

 

I come from the very southest part of Nigeria and arrived in Germany five years ago, actually when I met my husband. He is from Berlin. And since when I arrived here I missed nature, because here we are so far from it! In my country instead - even if I grew up in a big city - nature was much closer  (even the moon, that was so bright) and when I came back to my village, every family used to have its own farm or fish. In our garden we cultivated a lot of vegetables, they are very common in the South and we ate a lot! The most popular we had a sort of "fluted pumpkin" but it is very different from yours and very healthy and nutritious. The Igbos call it ugu but we (the Efiks) call it ikong, I do not know the botanical name... Unfortunately I can find it just in one or two shops here in Berlin, but it is too expensive and too dried. So I have tried to bring some seeds from my town and I planted here. They grew up, but they were not so good because of the weather. In fact, also in Nigeria it grows just in the South because it needs humid soil.

Susann, Nigerian

http://www.stiftung-interkultur.de/berlin/berlin-kreuzberg-rosenduft

http://www.suedost-ev.de/interkultureller_garten/interkultureller_garten.php