Ooops--sorry I missed your visit to chat. The test is to taste it, of course--just try to do it in some way so that you don't have the whole family ready to sit down to a great eggplant dinner, only to find it is bitter mush. Try a bite before you cook the entire thing (if you do something like eggplant parmesian, that is. Other recipes may not have an easy way to test them till the whole thing is finished).

SRS