Featured Ingredient: Likok (Bitter Eggplant)

Given its popularity at the farmers market, it is surprisingly challenging to find information about likok, also known as bitter eggplant, or bitter tomato. Only a small handful of farmers grow and sell it, and those that do sell out quickly during its short growing season. The uncommon fruit is coveted by Seattleites who have immigrated from places like Northern and North Eastern Africa, India, and the Himalayas.

Beloved for its bitter flavor, likok, (Solanum aethiopicum), is a small, eggplant or tomato-like member of the nightshade family, (Solanaceae), whose popular cousins include tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants. It is a native of Northern and North Eastern Africa, and is found in Bhutan, Nepal and North Eastern India. There are about a billion names for this plant, including bitter tomato, Ethiopian eggplant, nakati, garden eggs and mock tomato, just to name a few. This may be one reason it is so challenging to find information about likok. Another is its popularity in only a handful of countries, and even within nations, a taste for likok can be regional. Known as “bi” In Bhutan, likok is grown in warmer regions of the country, and its health benefits are well known in these areas. Meanwhile, Bhutanese living in the mountains are likely never to have heard of bi, because it is impossible to cultivate in cold, high altitudes.

Likok is a crop that consumers and farmers alike should probably get to know. Besides serving as a delicious natural thickener in soups, stews, and curries, it is disease resistant and has been bred with common varieties of eggplant, (like, Solanum melongena), to pass along those benefits. In 2019, researchers found that in addition to resisting disease, likok is also incredibly drought tolerant. As agriculture continues to adapt to climate change, likok and its variations may start taking center stage, along with other popular nightshades.

Try something new! Lee Lor Garden grows and sells likok at the Columbia City Farmers Market. In our neck of the woods, it ripens mid to late September and sticks around a few short weeks. Keep your eyes peeled!