Saunaplant #4: Aubergine

Aubergine (Solanum melongena): Few ingredients have travelled as far or been misunderstood as thoroughly. The ancient Sanskrit name vatin-ganah became the Persian badin-gan, then Arabic al-badinjan, then French aubergine... and when it first arrived in Italy it was called mala insana, "the apple of the insane," because people feared it was poisonous. In Japan, dreaming of an aubergine in your hatsuyume, the 1st dream of the new year, is considered one of the luckiest omens possible. In Bengali poetry, the deep purple of the aubergine is compared to the summer sky at midnight. Strange, and quietly spectacular, the Aubergine shall remain elegant.