Best tasting eggplant

[TC_Manhattan]

I found Ichiban starter plants at my local nursery last year, under the brand name "Chef Jeff."

Amazon has a listing for Ichiban seeds from Pase for $1.79 with free shipping, but the arrival date may put you off. Here's a link to that listing:
https://www.amazon.com/pasegreenhous...s%2C197&sr=8-2

Bonnie Plants lists Ichiban as a starter plant that they will offer, depending on location, so seeds are still out there, but more controlled distribution.

And...last but not least, you can find them for sale at Hazzard's Greenhouse, but the minimum quantity is 250 seeds for $14.66 plus shipping. That's a whole lotta eggplant seeds.

https://www.hazzardsgreenhouse.com/M...uct_Code=E4120

BTW, Kürüme is an even better alternative that is almost identical to Ichiban but sweeter, and it's open-pollinated. Kitizawa has seeds on their website, or you can find it listed on Amazon from Kitizawa, which saves you a bit on shipping if that's the only seed you'd be buying from Kitizawa.

I love Kurume a lot.

[DonDuck]

I wish some gardeners from this forum lived closer to me. I would love to drop off some extra pepper, tomato,and eggplant's. I always germinate more than I can plant and then run around trying to give them away. I know I will have extra Nadia and White Star eggplant's this year. I've never grown these varieties and I have no idea how they will perform. I don't grow the old black varieties because they were simply to bitter for my taste. It was easy to get rid of the bitterness by salting the flesh extracting the water and then rinsing them to get rid of the salt. I just don't like stuff that requires extra steps to prepare. Having never grown Nadia, it may be bitter. I suppose I will find out. I've never found a bitter white variety. I love eggplant, but no one else in my family does.

[ac21686]

If someone has grown/tasted both, thoughts on Ping Tung vs Kurume? Flavor is the priority over production and other criteria.

Originally Posted by DonDuck

I wish some gardeners from this forum lived closer to me. I would love to drop off some extra pepper, tomato,and eggplant's. I always germinate more than I can plant and then run around trying to give them away. I know I will have extra Nadia and White Star eggplant's this year. I've never grown these varieties and I have no idea how they will perform. I don't grow the old black varieties because they were simply to bitter for my taste. It was easy to get rid of the bitterness by salting the flesh extracting the water and then rinsing them to get rid of the salt. I just don't like stuff that requires extra steps to prepare. Having never grown Nadia, it may be bitter. I suppose I will find out. I've never found a bitter white variety. I love eggplant, but no one else in my family does.

Too bad no one else loves eggplant; I can’t imagine a growing season without it.
I’m awful about starting too many seeds as well, and so am starting to ask around at work for takers. I’ll hit up my neighbors and local friends too.
It’s just so much fun starting seeds, that’s the problem.

[zendog]

I start way too many as well, but have found the answer for me is that I can bring a whole bunch of them to my kid's high school PTA plant sale. It is worth seeing if something else is around locally. The only problem is now that I have the excuse I'm just starting even more.

To keep it eggplant relevent - I've started Fairytale (a dwarf) and Millionaire for this year. I grew Ping Tung last year and really enjoyed it, but for some reason I don't see any of the one's I put into wet paper towels germinating. It has been almost a week and the other two varieties started sprouting in about 48 hours. Anyone find Ping Tung to be a late sprouter or is it time to give up on them? They were new seeds this year.

[zipcode]

I bought seeds for Ping Tung and they started germinating after 7 days in paper, same time with Thai Green (no idea how old the seeds were). The fastest has been Aragon at 4 days, for comparison, so I think Ping Tung is not particularly slow. Now Irene F1, says packaged end 2018 (official pack from Italy), took exactly 15 days, which is insane, and they all sprouted then, 100%, that's what I would call late.

[barbamWY]

I only have had good luck with Black Bell. The seed is a little hard to find. Black Bell is early enough for my short season and it is consistently a good producer.
Barb

[habitat_gardener]

I got plants of Nadia and Galina at a plant sale last year, and these two were my biggest producers of dark oval eggplants. Excellent flavor!

After someone noted that raw Mitoyo was good, I started tasting my eggplants raw. All of them were "sweet" (no bitterness at all) except for a small white variety, which was so bitter that I pulled up the plant!

[TC_Manhattan]

Originally Posted by ac21686

If someone has grown/tasted both, thoughts on Ping Tung vs Kurume? Flavor is the priority over production and other criteria.

I have grown both. Ping Tung only once.
Kurume is back every year. I originally tried it the year I could no longer find Ichiban, and it turned out even better than Ichiban (slightly sweeter).

Ping Tung was more bland and drier when I grew it. Also it was a skinnier, longer pale purple eggplant. Kurume looks almost identical to Ichiban, and very productive, too.

I still grab an Ichiban starter plant when I run across it at the nursery, but Kurume is one of my regulars regardless.. along with Mitoyo, Kamo, Listada, Round Mauve, and Rosita..

Of all those, Kurume and Kamo are my favorites, and especially good grilled with EVOO and a pinch of salt & pepper.

[roper2008]

Originally Posted by zipcode

I thought Ichiban was a hybrid and long discontinued? Where can I find seeds? I even saw a guy on youtube with a supposed ichiban 2, but I can't find any trace of such thing existing.


This year I'm growing Thai long Green, Ping Tung, Kamo, Madonna F1, Aragon F1, Irene F1. The last 3 are classic color, Aragon being also very big (2 lb and bigger). Will see how good they taste, but I have a feeling the hybrids will be better.

I guess they are still selling the plants for this year. $1.39 a cell pack at Navy Exchange.

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by ac21686

If someone has grown/tasted both, thoughts on Ping Tung vs Kurume? Flavor is the priority over production and other criteria.

Ping Tung and Ma Zu are more rope-lish in growth pattern (with regard to fruit). Thinner skin. Creamy softer texture when cooked. Kurume holds up better (denser) but it's closer to an European cultivar. Stronger flavor imo. All are good to me. Depends what you're looking for.

Originally Posted by roper2008

An Asian one called MA-Zu produced very well for me last year. Growing it again this year.

Ma Zu is one of three widely cultivated [commercial] cultivars (only two of which are open pollinated) in Taiwan . The other op is Ping Tung.

Ma Zu - Height about 114cm, width 117cm. Strong branching, but weak resilience (requires support). Doesn't tolerate cold, heat, moisture, and or drought spells. Poor resistance to bacterial wilt and blight. Poor tolerance to infestations. 67 days from sowing to flowering. Fruit is bright purple, about 30-35cm (avg) with a slightly curved tail. Trends toward softer mature fruit.

Ping tung - height about 70 cm, width 45 cm. medium branching, strong growth. May still require staking. sowing to flowering in about 60 days. another 30 for harvesting. Poor tolerance to infestations. Fruit is purple, straight and long (about 30-35cm avg, longer with better nutrient regime). High temperatures will cause fruits to be lighter in color and shorter. Highly tolerant to cold, heat, moisture, and drought. Resistance to bacterial wilt.

Source: agriculture department of Kaohsiung district, Taiwan

[Gardeneer]

Maybe i have mentioned it before.
I am growing 2 varieties , Ichban and Thai Green. The latter do real wel for me here. The tast is good too.
My seedings are ready to get hardened off now. The weather is nice and warm too.

[clkeiper]

My asian neighbor brought me seeds to start her eggplants. well, I started them 6 weeks or more ago and nothing. pfft. was I in a panic because after a month of noshows I thought I would not have time to get nice sized plants for her. so. I called 3 times with no results and finally, since I knew where she lived I stopped when I saw her lights on coming home one evening. they laughed. and said its okay.. "i must give you old seed. let me get fresh ones" eeek! old seed? oh well. now they are 1" high and transplanted. I planted 5 of them in my own tray to put them in the garden to see what they are.

[jtjmartin]

My neighbors commented and loved my eggplant varieties more than my tomatoes last year. My wife loves them too - so I expanded what I'm growing this year.

Germination always seems like an issue with eggplant seeds. In the "bull pen" hardening off is:

Aswad*
Black Beauty & Black King
Kamo*
Listada
Mitoyo*
Rosa Bianca
Shooting Stars*
Snake*
Ukranian Beauty*
Twinkle*

*new to me this year

[jtjmartin]

For those of you that save seed . . .

-do you get much crossing? do I have to bag or are eggplants more like tomatoes?