Ping Tung Long - when can they be eaten?

[WVTomatoMan]

I've read that some eggplants can be eaten young. Is Ping Tung Long one of them? My "cheater" plant has 10 eggplants on it now. Some of them are about 4 or 5 inches long and a couple of inches or a little wider at the widest point. Can I pull one or two off and eat them? I'd still have plenty left on the plant.

Thanks.

Randy

[mdvpc]

Absolutely. You dont want eggplant to lose its shiny skin-once they start to turn dull, they are over ripe. The size you have now sounds perfect. Dont be afraid to pick them early.

[aninocentangel]

In my garden, never.
I have been trying to get them to germinate for two years now and no go all 4 times. I think I have bad seed, and I'm going to move on to a different variety. Any suggestions?

[mdvpc]

You either have bad seed or you are doing something wrong with your germination. PTL should germinate easily. Alternatives are casper, applegreen, some of the italian varieties. In your zone, eggplant should be easy.

[aninocentangel]

I figure it must be bad seed. It was packed for 2008, and in 2008 I tried germinating it in a seed flat, then I tried winter sowing, then germinating on a damp paper towel in an unzipped ziplock bag, and lastly direct sowing. I dug out the seed packet and there is a guarantee on it, so perhaps I will contact the company.

[mdvpc]

Sounds like you did what you needed to do to get it germinated. You surely have bad seed. PTL is a great eggplant, you really need to try it.

[WVTomatoMan]

angel - It seems like you have bad seed. If the damp paper towel/zip lock bag trick didn't work they're probably not going to germinate.

Michael - thanks for the response/info.

BTW, I had low germination rates for PTL when I tried to germinate them when it was rather cool in my basement.

Randy

[aninocentangel]

I contacted Pinetree, they said that they're sending out a replacement packet today. I must admit that after the paper towel attempt the "direct sowing" may have resembled dumping the packet in the garden and walking away. Just a little.

[mdvpc]

for me, eggplant has to have warm temps to germinate-even here in the desert southwest, I start them after my tomatoes. Tomatoes are first, then eggplant, peppers and last cukes.

[WVTomatoMan]

I picked one of the eggplants, grilled it, and ate it. It was pretty good. I think I may have over cooked it a little, but it wasn't falling apart or anything. I sliced it length wise. I brushed on Olive Oil and grilled it for 2.5 minutes per side. On one of the slices, after grilling I put a slice of tomato and some shredded parmesan cheese.

Randy

[mdvpc]

Randy-my friend who owns a brick oven pizzaria says to roast eggplant-get the oven as hot as possible then roast them quick, to seal in the moisture.

[WVTomatoMan]

Michael,

Sounds like I did the right thing then. I thought it was overdone a little, but my friend said no when I described it to her in detail. Oh, and the grill was quite hot. I've never really grown or eaten much eggplant before now. I guess that shows.

Last year my friend, that I mentioned earlier, made the best eggplant parmesan I've ever eaten. She used store bought eggplant. So I made the deal if I grow eggplants and give you some eggplants will you make me a bunch of eggplant parmesan and she agreed to that. I also told her I'd give her seedlings so she could grow her own.

Enjay,

I only have experience with 5 varieties of eggplants. Of those 5 the best germinating and growing plant was the old Black Beauty. I say old because as I recall it was introduced in 1902 by Burpee. It was in my 1927 Condon's seed catalog as well as my 1935 Wood's Brothers catalog. I think it's kind of cool when you look at real old seed catalogs and see things that you're growing.

Randy

[aninocentangel]

I think it's very cool when you can look at the old catalogs and see the things you're growing now. Especially when you know that your great-grand parents grew them too.
I got the replacement packet of Ping Tung Long from Pinetree yesterday, sowed them, we'll see how well they do. I just may have a black thumb when it comes to eggplant.
I make eggplant parmesan too, it's a favorite here. dip 1/4" slices of eggplant in egg, then bread crumbs with a handfull of parmesan mixed in. Bake in the oven or fry until crispy, layer with marinara and mozzerella and bake until heated, or heat the sauce before hand and layer and count on the heat to melt the cheese, this helps keeps the eggplant crisp. My kids clean it up and ask for more.

[WVTomatoMan]

Here is a picture of the plant in question. I've made a game of it.
How many eggplant fruit do you see? That's the game. Hint: There are more than 5.

Now keep in mind that this is not all of the fruit on the plant. I took the picture from where you could see the most fruit not the biggest.

I guess it's a good thing I liked it when I tasted it.

Randy

[WVTomatoMan]

Gee no guesses. Well there are 9 eggplants in the picture.

I've eaten some more of them. I have discovered that I like eggplant. So far I have only grilled them and fried them. In some cases when I've had eggplant in the past I found something objectionable about the taste. I don't know if it was the variety or they were grown in such a way as to be bitter or what, but I like these. Now I'm curious to try the other varieties I'm growing.

Randy