Eggplant goes all the way to the sweet aisle

Do you know that we turn the eggplants to Candy ??????????
I bet you did not know!!!!!

In Lebanon we do make nice dessert out of small light purple eggplants.

I was not lucky to find the right eggplant at the stores here in North Bay What I found a small dark baby eggplants they call them Indian eggplants , I used in my recipe , they have a sharp taste, but turned very nice and cute when they cooked in syrup.

Ingredients:

1 kilo of small purple eggplants
½ cup of lime powder (can be purchased from building supply stores)
8 cups of sugar
4 ½ cups of water
Juice of 1 lemon
20 whole cloves
Blanched almonds

Preparation:

Dilute the lime powder in a big pot of water, stirring till dissolved, then leave it to for 30-40 minutes to rest and the lime sink to the bottom of the pot.
Very carefully carry the pot and empty the water in another large bowl and without shaking the pot to stir the bottom. If you have half a cup of water or more left in the bottom with the lime just get rid of them, but don’t throw them in your sink, with paper towel collect the lime water, and put it in a bag full of papers or old magazines and throw in your cabbage, the lime powder if it dries will block your sink and then you will end up with a big headache and need to change the sink and pipes.

Peel your eggplants and soak them in the diluted lime water overnight.
The second day wash the eggplants several times in clean water , till it runs clear, and then dry them on a towel. Using a sharp knife open a small slit on one side and stuff with a blanched almond. Continue with the rest.
In a heavy stainless steel pot, dissolve the sugar and the water and cloves. When the syrup boils for 7 minutes add the eggplants and cook for 30 -35 minutes stirring regularly so they don’t stick, add the lemon juice and keep stirring, till the eggplants soak almost all the syrup and they become translucent and crunchy.

Note: some recipes ask for 8 cups of sugar and 8 cups of water and one kilo of glucose. After you boil the sugar and water for 7 minutes and you add the fruit and you cook for 30-35 minutes you add the lemon juice, stir and add the glucose and continue cooking for another 30-35 minutes till the fruit soaks the syrup and become translucent.