Elizabeth Hinds' latest installment is an entry on how to use eggplant. Please note her comments about sweating eggplant and her addendum about smaller/younger eggplant. We tend to agree that sweating isn't something that is appealing and neither of us care for a bitter tasting eggplant. From a grower's perspective, we can tell you that part of the key is getting eggplant fruit that are "younger." They may still have some size to them, but that is a function of the growing conditions of the eggplant. During perfect conditions, a young eggplant can have some decent size. During poorer conditions, even a small eggplant can be on a plant too long and get bitter. In order to do our best to insure that you get younger eggplant, we pick try not to leave any fruit on the eggplant for more than one week. Any fruit that seem 'off' to us are discarded.