Help! Need long-term storage for eggplant but not in freezer.

[Stacy]

Does anyone have any ideas for storing eggplant? I've read that freezing is the best way, after cutting and soaking in lemon juice. But the freezer above my fridge is full and it will be a few weeks before we can afford to buy a chest freezer. This will be a certain purchase because we'll have quite a lot of pork to store in October. Right now, our fridge is loaded with eggplant and other vegetables due to buying a share in a CSA that was more than we actually needed. (Trial and error. Next year we're buying a half-share.) Also, I recently learned that eggplant should actually be stored a little warmer than a fridge, but not room temperature.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I tried that "don't store eggplants in the fridge" advice and instead stored it at room temperature, it rotted even faster. In the fridge vegetable bin if you are lucky it might last a week. If you made something with the eggplant like baba ganoush it might be a bit smaller in the freezer. Long term without freezing? Geez short of picking the thing you would need a pressure canner for canning probably since it's not acidic. Suppose you could can something like ratatoulle, though I haven't seen it, but at least the acidity is better though I couldn't tell you if it was really high enough to be safe.

[bae]

Pickle the eggplant, there are lots of tasty recipes/approaches to this.

[fidgiegirl]

Not being an eggplant lover myself, I'd try to give some of it away! Sorry - that's not really what you asked! :)

[Tussiemussies]

You can freeze cooked eggplant, here is the URL on how to do it:

http://www.pickyourown.org/freezingeggplant.htm

[iris lily]

gee, I had just assumed that eggplant did not freeze well. hmmmm. well. I may try that. We've got some nice ones coming on right now.

[lhamo]

Can you dice and freeze in plastic bags? Those can lie pretty flat and might be able to squeeze in some corners. And you can use them as ice packs in a pinch :)

lhamo

[Tussiemussies]

If you do freeze it I would spread them out on cookie sheets first and freeze, then put into your freezer bag, otherwise they may stick together.

[Stacy]

Haha... I was looking for ideas to not use the freezer, but it looks like there aren't many. It looks like eggplant is one of those difficult vegetables to deal with.
Bae- thanks for the pickling idea! We might be overpickled, though. There were tons of cucumbers a few weeks ago that I had to deal with and that's what I did with them.
ApatheticNoMore- I also don't have a pressure canner right now. That's another thing on my wish list!
Here's what I did for a short-term solution: I put some moist sand in the bottom of a cooler, then put plastic on top. I put the eggplants on top of that. I have the cooler sitting outside in the shade. The temperatures have been cool outside, so I hope it's going to be okay. I also put a thermometer in the cooler to be sure the temps stay in the range they're supposed to.
Then, when I finally can buy our freezer, I'm going to slice them and freeze them. There's a way to freeze them to keep them from changing color. You soak them in water and lemon juice first.
That is, if they survive my experimental storage idea!

[lhamo]

And if you decide you can't/don't want to store so many long term, here's a great post from one of my favorite food blogs about how to make use of copious amounts of roasted/grilled eggplant:

http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2012/09/why-you-grill-or-roast-eggplants.html

[Merski]

I grill them and then freeze them, they take up less room because they are cooked. Can you ask a friend with a freezer for short term storage in their freezer in exchange for some eggplant???