Where is the origin of the eggplant? Let us take you through the origins of the eggplant

From north to south we have eaten quite a few dishes with eggplant, so where is the eggplant's place of origin? How did it spread to China?

The eggplant's place of origin is tropical Asia, in India and Thailand; to this day India still has wild species and close relatives of the eggplant, and it was introduced to our country in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Eggplant is distributed all over the world, with the most cultivation in Asia, accounting for about 74% of the world's total output; Europe comes next, accounting for about 14%. Eggplant is grown in every part of China, north and south, such as Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi, and Shandong.

It is generally believed that China is the secondary center of origin of the eggplant. In the botanical work Nanfang Caomu Zhuang (Records of Plants and Trees of the South) written by Ji Han of the Western Jin Dynasty, it says that there were eggplant trees in the area of South China, and this is China's earliest record concerning the eggplant. By the Song Dynasty, Tujing Bencao (Illustrated Pharmacopoeia) written by Su Song recorded that at that time, besides purple eggplant, white eggplant and water eggplant in the north and south, vine eggplant was also grown in the Jiangnan area.

The eggplant spread to Africa in the Middle Ages, was introduced to Europe in the 13th century, was fairly widely cultivated in southern Europe in the 16th century, spread throughout Europe in the 17th century, and later spread to the Americas.