Handsome plants

with violet blossoms

and shiny fruits

in many hues,

eggplants are one

of the most

ornamental of

vegetables.

Consider eggplant

for a prominent

spot in your

"edible landscape"

amd enjoy a visual

and culinary

feast all

summer long.

Eggplant
Solanum melongena
Solanaceae Family

Handsome plants with violet blossoms and shiny fruits in many hues, eggplants are one of the most ornamental of vegetables. Consider eggplant for a prominent spot in your "edible landscape" and enjoy a visual and culinary feast all summer long.

Eggplant is a semitropical/tropical plant. It belongs to the family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes. Originating in India, eggplants were brought westward by traders. The Moors grew them in Spain over 1300 years ago.

The name eggplant is most likely derived from the appearance of an early form of eggplant that produced white, egg-shaped fruits. Before it gained in culinary popularity, eggplant was also termed "mala insana," which translates to "mad apple," owing to the belief that eating eggplant would lead to madness. By the 1860's, seed catalogues in the United States listed several varieties of eggplants. These days, fruit types are varied, including a small 'green grape' eggplant from Thai-land; 'Easter-egg' types with variously colored fruits on a single plant; Italian 'bella' types with delicate pink and white shading on round fruits; the standard commercial type with black three-pound fruits and the increasingly popular, slim, purple-black 'Japanese' or oriental types. The purplish-black color is the result of anthocyanin in the subepidermal cells. Anthocyanins are the water-soluble flavonoid pigments found in plants that are commonly responsible for the red, purple and blue coloring of flowers, leaves (maples, oaks and persimmons in the Fall), vegetables (red cabbage) and fruits (such as cranberries, red apples, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums.)

Eggplant is a frost-intolerant perennial grown as an annual. They prefer warm weather, deep watering and sunshine. Eggplants will keep growing and flowering all summer if cut back and allowed to regrow. In mild regions, plants can be pruned to just above the crotch (6 to 8 inches high) in late July following the first crop. Feed twice during the growing season with fish emulsion and man-ure or compost tea.

Nutritionally, eggplant is not a significant source of vitamins or minerals; however, there are only 25 calories per 100 grams of raw eggplant and 19 calories per 100 grams of cooked eggplant. Glossy, creamy-fleshed eggplants appear in all the classic dishes of the southern Mediterranean, from eggplant Parmesan to moussaka and baba ghanoush. Asian cooks use them heavily as well.

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