Picked my first two eggplants today-5-25-09 - Page 2

**nctomatoman** · June 28, 2009

Picked our first today (June 28) - an F2 selection of Orient Express hybrid. I planted 10 seeds and saw two types of plants - very dark purple stem/purple shaded foliage, and purple stem with some green shading, green foliage with purple veins. I planted one of each. Today I picked the first fruit from the paler colored selection - fruit was 8 inches long, 1.5 inches wide, nice dark black purple. Fruit was picked 43 days from transplant, grown in a 5 gallon pot. Flesh was pale green - it ended up in a Pasta Primavera dish with summer squash.

The other, darker foliaged and stemmed selection will be the second eggplant to ripen. I am hoping for something very similar to the hybrid, which is a very nice variety (JSS carries it).

**mdvpc** · June 28, 2009

I have germinated my second round of eggplant-casper, ping tung and applegreen. Will put them in the containers probably about 2d week of July in hopes of having fresh eggplant 3 times a week until November.

My friend that owns a brick oven pizza restaurant cooked some for me the other day that I brought to him from the garden. He sprinkled a little salt on them, roasted them for 3 minutes in the brick overn (which is at 900 degrees) pulled them out, put some evoo on them-fantastic!

I still have lots and lots of fruit getting ripe. Been a great eggplant year.

**nctomatoman** · June 29, 2009

I actually did take a few pics of that first Orient Express F2 eggplant, attached.

Penny · June 29, 2009

Very nice indeed.

June 28, 2009	#16
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	Picked our first today (June 28) - an F2 selection of Orient Express hybrid. I planted 10 seeds and saw two types of plants - very dark purple stem/purple shaded foliage, and purple stem with some green shading, green foliage with purple veins. I planted one of each. Today I picked the first fruit from the paler colored selection - fruit was 8 inches long, 1.5 inches wide, nice dark black purple. Fruit was picked 43 days from transplant, grown in a 5 gallon pot. Flesh was pale green - it ended up in a Pasta Primavera dish with summer squash. The other, darker foliaged and stemmed selection will be the second eggplant to ripen. I am hoping for something very similar to the hybrid, which is a very nice variety (JSS carries it). __________________ Craig

June 28, 2009	#17
mdvpc Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 4,386	I have germinated my second round of eggplant-casper, ping tung and applegreen. Will put them in the containers probably about 2d week of July in hopes of having fresh eggplant 3 times a week until November. My friend that owns a brick oven pizza restaurant cooked some for me the other day that I brought to him from the garden. He sprinkled a little salt on them, roasted them for 3 minutes in the brick overn (which is at 900 degrees) pulled them out, put some evoo on them-fantastic! I still have lots and lots of fruit getting ripe. Been a great eggplant year. __________________ Michael

June 29, 2009	#19
Penny Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 948	Very nice indeed.