Eggplants

Few foods can lay claim to causing insanity, acting as an aphrodisiac, and serving as a dental cosmetic. Eggplant (Solanum melongena) lays claim to all of the above and much more. Although most often considered a vegetable, eggplant is actually a fruit. Technically it is a berry and a member of the nightshade family. It is possibly this botanical relationship to belladonna, the deadly nightshade, that prompted early Europeans to dub eggplant the “mad apple” on the premise that it could cause insanity. Quite a contrary view emerged, however, as the “apple of love” was sought after as an aphrodisiac in sixteenth-century Spain. Eggplant was also used as a cosmetic in the fifth century CE in China, where women used eggplant skins to make a black dye. As was the fashion of the day, women then used the dye to stain and polish their teeth until they took on a metallic sheen.