Moroccan Candied Baby Eggplant
Notes:
- The recipe takes anywhere from 6 to 9 hours to prepare; if you’re a fan of slow foods, this one’s for you.
- This recipe is by Liticia Benatar (born in Casablanca, living today in Caracas) and comes from Dulce lo vivas/ Live Sweet: La Reposteria Sefardi
by Ana Bensadon.
- The translation is mine, as are comments in parenthesis.
Berenjenitas en dulce – Moroccan-Sephardic Candied Baby Eggplants
Ingredients
- 25 baby eggplants – as small as possible
- 1.5 kilos (7-1/2 cups) sugar
- 500 grams (1-1/2 cups) honey
- crushed fresh ginger (according to taste)
- 8 cloves
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- a few grains of allspice
Directions
- Poke the raw eggplants all over with a fork.
- Put them in a (large, heavy, enamel) casserole, cover with cold water and add the sugar.
- Boil for 10 minutes, lower the flame and simmer for 2 or 3 hours over a low flame.
- Remove from the heat.
- Make a (little sack) with a fine cloth or gauze and put in all the spices. Add the spices and half the honey to the casserole and return it to the flame.
- When the pot begins to boil, lower the flame and simmer over a low flame for 2 or 3 hours.
- Add the rest of the honey. The eggplants have to cook for another 2 or 3 hours more, until they turn very dark.
SEPHARDIC FOOD 
mine take 10 days to make
Wow, Claire. Slow cooking indeed. Are there additional steps you do, or do you just let them rest for a longer period of time?
Hi Janet,
First after poking with the fork I leave them 24 hour in water and salt, one to take of that stingy and two to make them harder, after rinsing well, I cook them in water and equal of sugar and aubergine, for 45 minutes, leave in the pan, next day I take them out of the liquid, heat the liquid to boiling point, add the aubergine and simmer for 20 minutes repeat for 3 days.
On the forth day do the same but still hot, place them on a rack (with a tray under to catch the drips) repeat until you see the sugar crystallising then on the last day bake them in a cool oven 125 degree for around 30 minutes.
It takes about ten days. Is less messy to eat and you can place them in paper cases for better presentation,
you can do mandarines, pineapple, ginger,apricots, chesnuts all sorts of fruits
Wow. Claire, thank you for such a detailed description! Is this your own process, or one you were taught?