Dear Heloise: I make a delicious dish using eggplant, but my husband — and now my kids — won’t eat it. My husband claims the eggplant is a member of “the nightshade family” and that the plant is actually dangerous to consume. Can you help me convince my husband that eggplant is not dangerous to eat? — Margaux L., Erie, Pennsylvania

Margaux, yes, eggplant may be a member of the nightshade family, but it is not poisonous. Although most of us think of eggplant as a vegetable, it’s actually a fruit — a berry, in the botanical definition.

It is not dangerous to eat and, in fact, is beneficial in several ways. It’s high in a number of nutrients, such as vitamin K, vitamin C, manganese, folate and potassium. It also contains a significant amount of antioxidants, which protect our bodies from free radicals, and it’s high in fiber and low in calories.

Your husband can eat eggplant and enjoy your recipe. — Heloise

SHOOFLY PIE

Dear Heloise: At a recent function I attended, a woman told me there was no such thing as shoofly pie. When I said I had eaten shoofly pie, she insisted I had something else. There is a potluck meeting coming up in about four weeks where everyone brings something, and I intend to make a shoofly pie and take it with me.

The only problem is that I don’t have the recipe. Could you print that in your column for me? I used to have it in a pamphlet, but it’s been lost over time. — Sharon F., Tupelo, Mississippi

Sharon, I’ve definitely eaten shoofly pie! Here is the recipe:

1 cup molasses

1 cup boiling water

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups of unsifted flour

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

3/4 cup of lard

3 unbaked pastry shells

Mix the molasses and boiling water. Cool slightly; then add the baking soda. While it is cooling, in a separate bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar and lard to make the crumbs. Pour the mixture into the unbaked pastry shells. Top with the crumb mixture and bake in an oven set to 350 F for about 25 minutes.

Besides having the recipe for shoofly pie, my pamphlet “Heloise’s Cake Recipes” contains other scrumptious recipes for desserts that will make everyone in your family ask for seconds. To get a copy, go to www.Heloise.com or send $3, along with a stamped, self-addressed, long envelope to: Heloise/Cakes, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Nothing finishes a meal like a sweet treat that’s homemade. — Heloise