Eggplant and Garlic Spread

It will yield about 12 pints.

Ingredients

• 5 pounds of freshly picked eggplants
• 1/4 cup of sea salt or canning salt
• 1/2 cup of good olive oil
• 1/2 a cup sesame seeds
• 8 to 10 buds of garlic with cloves just chopped in halves (yes, hole buds, not just cloves. This means around 160 cloves of garlic. Forget romance ! After tasting this, even Pépé Le Pue will run away from you ! :) )
• 1 pound grey shallots, peeled and quartered
• 1 bell green pepper, diced
• 1 bell red pepper, diced
• 1 bell orange or yellow pepper, diced
• 3/4 cups of hot peppers to your choice, diced
• 2 TBS black peppercorns
• 6 cups of white wine vinegar (at least 5 % of acetic acid)
• 2 TBS of mild paprika
• 1 1/2 cups of well packed pale brown sugar (300 g)

Procedure

1. Wash, stem and peel eggplants. Slice them in six lengthwise and cut those slices in one inch thick triangles.
2. Put them in a large bowl or pan, sprinkle salt and mix to cover eggplant with salt. Put in a large colander and let drip for an hour.
3. Rinse well and put them in the center of a towel in small amounts. Form a ball and twist gently the ends of the towel to extract most of water without crushing the flesh too much.
4. In a large heavy bottomed stainless steel pan heat the oil and cook the sesame seeds until they begin to pop.
5. Add eggplant, garlic, shallots, bell peppers, hot peppers and peppercorns.
6. Cook at high for 5 minutes stirring well.
7. Add vinegar and bring to a heavy boil.
8. Lower the range and let simmer until eggplants are tender (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally.
9. Add brown sugar and paprika and stir well to dissolve.
10. Let simmer for desired thickness, stirring occasionally (about 45 minutes for me).
11. Pour in sterilized jars leaving 1/2 an inch of headspace.
12. Sterilize in BWB 10 minutes for pints and half pints, 15 minutes for quarts.
13. Let sleep for a full month before you try it, if you can.
14. It's even better after 4 months of maturation.