Best tasting eggplant

[fantoma]

Was wondering if there is such a thing?

[Worth1]

I think Craig AKA nctomatoman could come up with a better one but I have tried (Lavender touch) and really love it.
It is a hybrid and you can get seeds from several places on the web.
A very mild eggplant.
Worth

[OmahaJB]

Originally Posted by fantoma

Was wondering if there is such a thing?

This year was my first for trying to grow eggplant. So I did some research reading through the threads here, reading catalog descriptions, and started a thread where people gave opinions. Rosa Bianca was the one that stood out for me based on descriptions. Unfortunately, my eggplants did very poorly in the ground. Not to mention it was a very mild summer here. Eggplant like heat. I grew a few varieties and only got eggplant on a couple of plants. A dark one so I think it was Black Beauty. The darned squirrels took all but 2.

Someone started a thread saying they liked Listada de Gandia just as much as Rosa Bianca, and it was more productive for them. I'll be trying both in containers next year.

While posting this reply I can't see your location, but if you're in a northern state, you might want to try an early variety as well. I'm planning on trying Applegreen since it's so early and I believe productive.

Another one I want to try is Round Mauve. Just like the way it looks in the pictures. Supposedly it's productive as well.

[shelleybean]

I would have to agree on Rosa Bianca. I think that's a variety that's so mild it could convert an eggplant hater to an eggplant lover.

[nctomatoman]

Here's my take on eggplant - there are those that taste like eggplant (the vast majority), and those that are quite bitter and I tend to avoid. Unlike tomatoes, of course, eggplant are more like sweet peppers - but even less like tomatoes! With sweet peppers you get varying levels of sweetness at the red/gold/whatever color ripe stage, but when green, they pretty much taste...well, green! With eggplant, we've found textural differences more than anything else...and fresh picked, home grown eggplant are infinitely better than store bought (they aren't unappealingly bitter and corky, which is what happens with storage).

So with eggplant, to my mind, best to focus on those whose shape and color you like, and which yield well. I like New York Improved, Prosperosa, Listada di Gandia and Green Giant for the big round ones that we turn into eggplant parmesan or grill. The more elongated ones (from fairly thick to really slender) tend to yield much better, and we either grill them whole or split, or chunk them for our ratatouille (our favorite use for eggplant, aside from sliced/breaded/baked and parmesaned!). For the slender ones, Lavendar Touch, Neon, Rosita, to the really slender ones like Ichiban, Orient Charm, Orient Express, Machiaw - all grow and yield well for us. Interestingly, we note that the ones with darkest skin (esp the slender ones) have flesh that tends to pale green, while the white and lavendar skinned ones have more snow white flesh. No difference in flavor.

Eggplant are so easy to grow and do so well in pots (as long as you do something about flea beetles)....and even in the case of hybrids, easy to save seed from. And since flavor varies so little, growing from hybrid - saved seeds adds a bit of mystery to your garden, since you can get some interesting color variations (mom, dad, and cousins)!

[Worth1]

Florida Market did well for me here in the south, I don’t know how it stands up to the rest of the varieties but it has been around a long time.
My first experience with this plant was about 40 years ago.
I was about ten years old and my mom decided to grow eggplant.

I was told to keep them alive so I had to haul water to them in coffee cans.
She always liked to cook dishes from the Mediterranean as her folks were from southern France.
I must have been the only kid in school to eat the things we did, I even had my own bottle of hot sauce I carried in my lunch bucket.
One other place I was shocked to find eggplant was in Marine Corps boot camp.

I had to pull mess duty for a week there and when they found out I could cook I never washed a dish moped a floor.
I got to cook in the galley and we made deep fried eggplant in a bread crumb type batter.
The guys thought they were eating some sort of tender meat.

I haven’t grown eggplant in about 5 years now and its darn time I did this year.
They are less finicky as when to harvest and would be the perfect plant with my schedule of being away from home a lot.

Now off to pick out some egg plant seeds.
Worth

[shelleybean]

I am growing Florida Market in 2010, Worth. So it produced well for you? I am cutting back on the number of plants to make room for more peppers this time.

[cdbva]

I want to try eggplant next year. But how do you ward off flea beetles? They made mincemeat out of my turnip greens this summer.

Christine

[beefyboy]

I personally have never grown an eggplant as flavorful and easy to grow as Ichiban. It reqiures no soaking of the fruit, bears early, and even holds up to Florida summers.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by shelleybean

I am growing Florida Market in 2010, Worth. So it produced well for you? I am cutting back on the number of plants to make room for more peppers this time.

Michele,
I grew about 12 Florida Market plants and I have to say it was too many.
I always seem to grow more than I can eat and my wife won’t prepare meals the way I do and then she won’t eat the food.

She can go to a restaurant and eat the exact same thing but won’t eat it at home.
I think it’s the whole dining out experience she gets in to.

Well anyway it is a good producer and tastes good.
There is nothing fancy with this variety, nothing stands out so folks can go eeew, “ looky at the beautiful fruit that one has”.

No none of this, but if you want an eggplant that stands up on its own and is healthy then you just can’t go wrong with Florida Market.

Beat the rush and get your seeds today before they run out.

Worth

[Fert1]

Originally Posted by OmahaJB

This year was my first for trying to grow eggplant. So I did some research reading through the threads here, reading catalog descriptions, and started a thread where people gave opinions. Rosa Bianca was the one that stood out for me based on descriptions. Unfortunately, my eggplants did very poorly in the ground. Not to mention it was a very mild summer here. Eggplant like heat. I grew a few varieties and only got eggplant on a couple of plants. A dark one so I think it was Black Beauty. The darned squirrels took all but 2.

Someone started a thread saying they liked Listada de Gandia just as much as Rosa Bianca, and it was more productive for them. I'll be trying both in containers next year.

While posting this reply I can't see your location, but if you're in a northern state, you might want to try an early variety as well. I'm planning on trying Applegreen since it's so early and I believe productive.

Another one I want to try is Round Mauve. Just like the way it looks in the pictures. Supposedly it's productive as well.

I think it was me that started the thread about Listada de Gandia. I tried to keep count of how many I pulled. From my list, it looks like I got 75 fruits from 3 Listada de Gandia plants, (compared to 30 from 3 Rosa Bianca plants). I think that's pretty good for plants in the ground. The flavor and texture were great, and it is also very pretty with the purple and white stripes. The thread I started about it is still here, and I posted pictures in another thread that I titled "So Pretty."

Someone here gave me seeds for Louisianna Long Green, which was also very mild. I planted late that year though, so production could have been better, but it was my own fault, not the plant's. That is one of the long, slender varieties. It seemed to do pretty well once it got started good. Rosita is a larger variety I've tried that had good, mild flavor.

I also want to try Round Mauve. I may grow it next summer. It looks unusual and is reputed to be very productive.

[OmahaJB]

Holly,

75 from 3 plants would be great to get here if I can. I may just get Listada de Gandia rather than either Applegreen or Rosita. I'm trying to keep my seed buying to a minimum this year since in all actuality I already have enough to last years. And that's before I do any seed saving! A big factor here will be whether we have another mild summer or a hotter one than we did this year.

Round Mauve may be one I wait on until 2011. I'd like to grow it sometime but have only so much space. I'll focus mainly on Rossa Bianca, Listada de Gandia, Diamond, Ichiban F3 (from Craig this past year), and probably Applegreen since it's early and productive. Rosita I'd like due to it's convenient size & the fact it was developed in Puerto Rico, a place I lived for a year and a half.

Turkey Day and I'm here thinking about my garden for next year!

[Fert1]

Originally Posted by OmahaJB

Holly,

75 from 3 plants would be great to get here if I can. I may just get Listada de Gandia rather than either Applegreen or Rosita. I'm trying to keep my seed buying to a minimum this year since in all actuality I already have enough to last years. And that's before I do any seed saving! A big factor here will be whether we have another mild summer or a hotter one than we did this year.

Round Mauve may be one I wait on until 2011. I'd like to grow it sometime but have only so much space. I'll focus mainly on Rossa Bianca, Listada de Gandia, Diamond, Ichiban F3 (from Craig this past year), and probably Applegreen since it's early and productive. Rosita I'd like due to it's convenient size & the fact it was developed in Puerto Rico, a place I lived for a year and a half.

Turkey Day and I'm here thinking about my garden for next year!

Hey, I always start thinking about my garden this time of year. I start planning and purchasing seeds. For what it's worth, I've seen at least one negative comment about Applegreen. Someone said it had some bitterness. Of course, everyone's tastes are different, and growing conditions can affect things as well.

[nctomatoman]

I find that with eggplant, the bitterness factor is often related to how long it hangs on the plant - each variety has a "mature size" - beyond that, if you leave it hang too long on the plant, seeds get larger and the fruit more bitter. For many of the varieties, when they start to lose their gloss is one indication of overripeness. The dead giveaway is fading of color, and development of a yellow color - time for seed saving only at that point.

[shelleybean]

Thanks for the info on Florida Market, Worth. I will go ahead with my plan for next year.