Eggplant Harvest
I just wanted to share some of the organic heirloom eggplants that I’m growing and harvesting from the vegetable garden this summer.
Previous articles on this veggie gardening site covered tips for growing eggplants and discussed the exotic international roots of heirloom eggplant varieties.
Now there’s a new harvest maturing to provide additional images and examples of how colorful and interesting heirloom eggplants can be in the garden or the kitchen.
Tired and bored of the same old, dark purple eggplants that you’ve been purchasing from the local grocer? There are more choices and variety than you may have imagined, but the catch is that you’ll have to grow these babies yourself.
Here’s a collection of eggplants that are anything but normal or routine. The long and slender green fruits are “Thai Long Green”. The sweet and tender, long lavender eggplants are fruits from the “Ping Tung” variety.
“Listada De Gandia” is the purple and white stripped Italian beauty. Then there are three different purple fruited eggplants including “Black Champion” and “Gitana.” And finally, there’s one of my personal favorites, the huge radiant green, oval-shaped fruit of the variety called “Green Giant.”
That’s just the beginning, there are more fruits of other heirloom eggplant varieties in additional sizes, shapes, and colors that I’ll be sharing as the season progresses.
Other Related Vegetable Gardening Posts:
July 25th, 2007 at 9:35 am
What a bountiful harvest.
How do you prepare your eggplants for eating? I usually stuff or saute my eggplants. I picked some from the garden this past Saturday.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Gorgeous harvest! I have been enjoying lots of eggplant lasagna (where you use grilled eggplant slices instead of wheat noodles).
July 25th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Opal,
My favorite eggplant recipe is a Ratatouille of cubed eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers, squash, okra, and herbs picked fresh from the garden. Once in a while I’ll stuff eggplant or use them in a stir fry.
Nicole,
That eggplant lasagna sounds delicious also!
July 27th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Last summer (We’re in winter here in johannesburg now) I had loads & lods of eggplants – or brinjals as we call them – and researched lots of recipes. My favourite is a Persian recipe, where you salt and drain slices, grill one side, turn over and top with a thickish layer made up of: peanut butter, plain yoghurt, ground cumin and bit of chilli. Grill or bake again until the eggplant is cooked and the topping done. Serve as is. Very different.
Another favourite is also Middle Eastern and Indian: Bake whole fruit in a moderate oven until very soft and puree with cumin, lemon, olive oil, yoghurt and of course salt and pepper. Serve as a dip with lovely bread. Known as Baba Ganoush. Also lovely. I first tasted it on a boat cruising down the Nile – and now find it’s pretty universal.
cheers -
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:02 am
For some who might be interested, I could not grow eggplant well until I started mulching the ground with clear plastic. Now they are imitating zucchini plants with their productivity.
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:15 am
I used plastic mulch for the first time with eggplants this season too, except that I used the red colored variety. The plants did seem to grow better with the mulch and there were fewer flea beetles as well. Some of the eggplants are well over four feet tall but beginning to struggle a little from the lack of rainfall.
August 13th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I have several eggplants that voluntarily come up each summer. They have purple flowers and produce green fruit shaped like a big comma (paisley shape). They stay green, are a little fuzzy. I have never picked them, they just dry and reseed… are they eggplants, and how and when do I know when to pick and how to cook?
August 13th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Hi Mums, it’s difficult to say just from your description, but if you send me a photo I may be able to offer more assistance as to the identity. I do think that it would be unusual for eggplants to consistently reseed themselves and return every year like that.
August 29th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I planted 3 eggplant plants this spring. They had the most beautiful blossoms I ever saw. They have many long skinny dark purple fruit that aren’t getting fat like I thought they would. Some are losing color, getting much lighter. I don’t know when to pick them, because they don’t look like any eggplant I’ve ever seen in the grocery store. Thanks.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Hi Valerie, some eggplant varieties grow long and slender rather than fat and plump. The color change can be a sign of maturity or of over-maturing. They are edible at any stage so harvest at any point from baby eggplants to whenever the reach their full-size, but don’t leave them on the plant too long after they stop growing unless you are saving seed.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Thanks for the info, how do I tell what variety it is? It wasn’t on the tag from the nursery, it just said “eggplant.”
August 30th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Valerie, that may be tough because there are so many different varieties of eggplants out there. Your best bet would be to check some of the online vegetable seed catalogs and try to match your eggplants to some of the pictures and descriptions in the catalogs.
August 31st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
EGGPLANT CAPONATA
This is an old Itilian recipy that my mom and I use to make
HERE WE GO .
5 LARGE EGGPLANTS—– DICED ABOUT 1 IN, CUBES
2 LARGE ONIONS ——- SLICED
1 lb GREEN OLIVES [ OR ] 1 JAR
(depit and slice)
1 SMALL JAR CAPERS — 4 OZ.
2 STALKS CELERY — DICED
***************************************************************************************************
BOIL ONIONS AND CELERY LIGHTLY AND DRAIN,SET ASIDE.
SALT AND SAUTE EGGPLANT IN OLIVE OIL A LITTLE AT A TIME.
REMOVE EACH BATCH FROM PAN. WHEN ALL EGGPLANT IS
SAUTED, PUT IN LARGEPOT. ADD ONIONS, CELERY, OLIVES, CAPERS
AND MIX TOGETHER.
ADD TO MIXTURE,
3 8OZ. CANS TOMATO SAUCE
2/3 CUP VINEGAR
3/4 CUP SUGAR
1 TEASPOON PEPPER
SIMMER APPROX. 25 – 30 MIN. IF TO DRY, ADD MORE TOMATO SAUCE.
DO NOT OVERCOOK ******** ENJOY AND HAVE FUN.
************************************************************************
Let cool and place in glass jars and store in frig. it will keep for several weeks, if it last that long, or you can “can” and store in cool place.