5. Good Organic Gardening - September-October 2016 AvxHome.in

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS | Eggplant
Shady reputation
Eggplants belong to the Solanaceae or
nightshade family, which includes tomatoes,
capsicums and potatoes. Their affiliation with
deadly nightshade saw them treated with
caution throughout history. In medieval Europe,
eating eggplant was thought to provoke an
angry disposition and in the US, until the
20th century, the fruit was used only for table
decoration for fear of its poisonous relatives.
Today, of course, eggplant is a treasured
garden plant used around the world in a whole
range of dishes: chargrilled, in casseroles and
ratatouille, in the smoky dip baba ganouj or,
most famously, in hearty moussaka.
Varieties
You might like to grow the heirloom variety
‘Black Beauty’, which has been around since
1902 and for good reason, because it produces
a heavy crop of big, glossy, dark-purple fruit
that weigh up to 1kg each and are full of flavour.
Or you could try the Italian heirloom
‘Listada di Gandia’, which never fails to attract
comment with its exquisite fruit streaked
purple and white. It’s an almost seedless
variety with lovely, smooth flesh that can yield
up to 3.5kg of fruit per plant.
In the beauty stakes, it’s also hard to resist
‘Rosa Bianca’ with voluptuous round, white
fruit blushed with pink.
White eggplants tend to be less bitter and
the aptly named variety ‘Snowy’ is a blinder
with striking white cylindrical fruits that ripen
early in the season. Also keep an eye out for
‘White Star’, which has a compact growth
habit tailor-made for decorative pots.
You’ll also love ‘Slim Jim’, with skinny,
deep-purple fruits and decorative purple
foliage that makes a wonderful contrast in the
kitchen garden or flower border. It’s ready to
harvest just 13 weeks from seedlings.
For something really different, give ‘Thai
Long Green’ a go. It produces heavy yields of
long, pale-green fruit with a mild taste and
smooth, spongy flesh that soaks up spicy
flavours well and makes a wonderful addition
to exotic Thai curries.
‘Snowy’
‘Black Beauty’
‘Rosa Bianca’
‘Listada de Gandia’
Eggplant label
Common name: Eggplant, aubergine
Botanical name: Solanum melongena
Family: Solanaceae (nightshades)
Aspect: Full sun
Soil: Well drained, neutral to
slightly acid
Climate: Warm conditions
Habit: Erect
Difficulty: Easy
CanStockPhoto
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