Aubergines are native to Asia, where they were already mentioned as "Brinjal" in the Sanskrit scriptures in the 5th - 4th century BC. Since the aubergine originally had a yellow or white skin and was only egg-sized, it was and is still called "egg fruit" today. The Arabs brought the eggplant to Europe as early as the 13th century, but it was not cultivated there until 1550 by the Italians. Today one finds the most notable cultivation-areas of the froste-sensitive nightshade-plant in Egypt, Africa, France, Iraq, Israel, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Canaries, Spain and Romania.