## 3 Results and Discussions
### Nutritional Characterization of Eggplant (Whole Fruit and Pulp)  
The results obtained in the nutritional characterization of the whole fruit and the pulp of _Solanum melongena_ L. are shown in Table 3. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline
**Color Evaluation Parameters** & **Fresh Epicarp** & **Lyophilized Epicarp** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline \(L^{*}\) & 26.2 \(\pm\) 0.5 & 34 \(\pm\) 2 & \textless{}0.01 \\ \(a^{*}\) & 5.1 \(\pm\) 0.2 & 2.8 \(\pm\) 0.1 & \textless{}0.01 \\ \(b^{*}\) & 1.5 \(\pm\) 0.1 & \(-\)0.17 \(\pm\) 0.01 & \textless{}0.01 \\ \hline Epicarp color & & & \\ \hline \end{tabular} \(L^{*}\) luminosity; \(a^{*}\) chromatic axis from green (\(-\)) to red (\(+\)); \(b^{*}\), chromatic axis from blue (\(-\)) to yellow (\(+\)). The statistical differences were obtained through the Student \(t\)-test; \(p\) value \(<\) 0.05 means significant statistical variance.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: Physical parameters (color-CIE \(L^{*}\)\(a^{*}\)\(b^{*}\)) of the fresh and lyophilized fruit epicarp of _Solanum melongena_ L. (mean \(\pm\) SD). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline
**Nutritional Value** & **Whole Fruit** & **Pulp** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline Humidity (g/100 g fw) & 91.3 \(\pm\) 0.3 & 92.9 \(\pm\) 0.4 & 0.944 \\ Ashes (g/100 g fw) & 0.56 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 0.56 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 0.862 \\ Proteins (g/100 g fw) & 0.86 \(\pm\) 0.02 & 0.78 \(\pm\) 0.03 & 0.729 \\ Fat (g/100 g fw) & 0.050 \(\pm\) 0.002 & 0.040 \(\pm\) 0.001 & \textless{}0.01 \\ Carbohydrate (g/100 g fw) & 3.0 \(\pm\) 0.1 & 2.89 \(\pm\) 0.01 & 0.893 \\ Energy (kcal/100 g fw) & 32.6 \(\pm\) 1.1 & 27.5 \(\pm\) 0.6 & 0.869 \\ Energy (kcal/100 g fw) & 137 \(\pm\) 4 & 115 \(\pm\) 2 & 0.869 \\ \hline \end{tabular} \(fw\): fresh weight. The statistical differences were obtained through the Student \(t\)-test; \(p\) value \(<\) 0.05 means a significant statistical difference.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Nutritional parameters of the whole fruit and pulp of _Solanum melongena_ L. (mean \(\pm\) SD). The moisture content showed values of 91.3 \(\pm\) 0.3 g/100 g fw (fresh weight) for the whole fruit samples and 92.9 \(\pm\) 0.4 g/100 g fw for the pulp samples, indicating a high percentage of water in its composition. On the other hand, considerably lower levels were evident in the values of the remaining nutrients and non-nutrients evaluated in these samples. In the evaluation of the carbohydrate content, values of 3.0 \(\pm\) 0.1 g/100 g fw were obtained for the whole fruit and 2.89 \(\pm\) 0.01 g/100 g fw for the pulp; in fat content, lower concentrations were obtained, ranging from 0.050 \(\pm\) 0.002 g/100 g fw (whole fruit) to 0.040 \(\pm\) 0.001 g/100 g fw (pulp); the protein concentration was 0.86 \(\pm\) 0.02 g/100 g fw (whole fruit) and 0.78 \(\pm\) 0.03 g/100 g fw (pulp) and, finally, the ash content was 0.56 \(\pm\) 0.01 g/100 g fw and 0.56 \(\pm\) 0.02 g/100 g fw for the whole fruit and the pulp, respectively. The energy value showed satisfactory values of 32.6 \(\pm\) 1.1 kcal/100 g fw in the whole fruit and 27.5 \(\pm\) 0.6 kcal/100 g fw in the pulp. The values obtained in the present study explain the high interest in the consumption of this food, namely, in diets with caloric restriction. Through the statistical analysis performed, there was an absence of significant difference (\(p\) > 0.05) in most of the tested parameters (moisture, ash, proteins, carbohydrates, and energy), with the exception of the fat content, which showed a significant difference (\(p\) < 0.05), being higher in whole eggplant samples. Regarding the data available in the literature, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) [41] presented in a report 11,209 similar concentrations to those achieved in the present study, namely, in the moisture (92.3 g/100 g fw), ash (0.66 g/100 g fw), and protein content (0.98 g/100 g fw).