A Detailed Explanation of the Processing Technology and Production Method of Dried Eggplant

I. Process Flow

Material Selection → Cleaning → Pre-boiling → Slicing → First Sun-drying → Salting → Second Sun-drying → Soaking and Sun-drying → Blending → Packaging

II. Key Operating Points

1. Material Selection Choose fresh eggplants that are large, plump and tender, with fine texture, free of pests and diseases, and free of rot as the raw material.

2. Cleaning Use a knife to cut off the fruit stalk and calyx from the selected eggplants, put them in clean water, wash them clean and set aside.

3. Pre-boiling Add clean water to the pot and bring it to a boil, pour in the washed eggplants, cover with the pot lid, and when the water in the pot boils again, take out one eggplant and check how well it is cooked. If the eggplant has turned dark brown and soft but is not yet fully cooked, it indicates that it is ready; immediately scoop out the eggplants with a strainer and place them on a bamboo sieve or bamboo curtain to cool and air-dry.

4. Slicing After the pre-boiled eggplants have cooled, cut each eggplant into two halves, then score each half into 3-4 sections, but do not cut all the way through, so that the sections remain attached together.

5. First Sun-drying After cutting the sections, place the eggplants one by one on a drying mat with the cut side facing up, and expose them to the sun for one day without turning them. After sun-drying is complete and they have cooled, they can be salted.

6. Salting Use a ceramic basin or vat for salting. Place the sun-dried eggplants in the basin (vat) with the cut side facing up, sprinkle a layer of crushed salt on top, and rub evenly with your hands so that all the salt powder adheres to the eggplant sections. The amount of salt used is based on the weight of the sun-dried eggplants: add 5 kg of salt for every 100 kg. After rubbing with salt, place the eggplants with the cut side facing up, layer by layer in the basin (vat), until the eggplants are 3-4 cm above the rim of the basin, so that the center of the basin bulges up. Salt for 12 hours.

7. Second Sun-drying After salting, still place the eggplants one by one on the drying mat for sun-drying. Turn them once every 4 hours; if moisture is found under the eggplants when turning them, wipe it dry with a dry cloth. Sun-dry in this way for 2-3 days, and when the eggplants turn dark brown and can be broken by snapping, they are semi-finished products.

8. Soaking and Sun-drying Soak the dried eggplant sections in clean water for about 20 minutes to let them absorb water, expand and soften. Then scoop them out with a strainer and place them on the drying mat for sun-drying. It is appropriate to sun-dry until the surface of the eggplant sections has no water or juice and the weight is slightly less than immediately after soaking, but still 45%-50% heavier than the semi-finished product. The purpose of soaking is to remove part of the salt and the bitter taste of the eggplant.

9. Blending Cut the semi-finished product into pieces 4 cm long and 6.5 cm wide. In the proportion of 100 kg of eggplant sections with 2 kg of table salt, 15-20 kg of salted red chili peppers, and 35-40 kg of bean curd skin, mix evenly (the red chili peppers should be cut into pieces of about 1 cm each). Then put them layer by layer into a pickling jar, while filling, tamp and press each layer firmly, trying as much as possible to keep air out of the jar. After filling, cover with the lid, pour water into the water trough around the mouth of the jar, and finally place a covering bowl in the water trough to prevent outside air from entering the vegetable jar. After about 15 days of fermentation, it becomes the finished dried eggplant.