Pea eggplants.

Pea eggplants, makhuea phuang in Thai, grow in clusters of small green berries about the size of a pea. Each one has a firm skin and a lot of small seeds, and the taste is clearly bitter, which is exactly what they're there for. In a rich green curry they pop when you bite them and cut through the coconut milk. If you have never cooked with them, start with a small handful.

Ways to use it

• Add a handful to kaeng khiao wan, green curry, or a jungle curry, a few minutes before the end.
• Crush a few into nam prik kapi, the shrimp paste chilli dip, the way many Thai cooks do.
• Eat them raw, a few at a time, beside a chilli dip.
• Stir fry them with chilli paste, meat and krachai.

Storing it

Keep the clusters unwashed in a bag in the fridge drawer and use them within a few days. Pull the berries off the stems just before cooking, drop any that are yellow or soft, and rinse under running water.

Where it comes from

Grown to certified organic standards. The certificate for each lot is shown when you trace your pack.

Every pack will carry a lot code. Enter it on the Trace your pack page and you will see the farms in that lot, the harvest date and the certificate.