Eggplant is common ingredient in appetizers and entrees. Although, most people do not think about an eggplant’s gender, serious foodies know the difference and choose male over female eggplants to create mild-tasting dishes.

Pollination

Eggplant does not have separate male and female parts. Eggplants are self-pollinating. This means that each flower has a male and a female part and does not require another flower to produce the fruit.

Male Fruit

The male fruit has fewer, smaller seeds than the female fruit. This makes the male eggplant less bitter. The male eggplants have shallow round indents on the bottom, while female eggplants have oval indentations or deep indents. Although it is not always easy to distinguish between the fruit, female eggplants are slightly less glossy and not as dark in color as the male fruit.

Recent Research

Horticulturist Robert Cox of the Colorado State University Extension suggests that the difference between male and female eggplants is not gender. Cox concludes that less mature eggplants develop few seeds, while mature eggplants produce many mature seeds.

Eggplantshould be eaten when the fruit is young, tender and contain fewer seeds. Such eggplants are commonly referred to as the male fruit.