Aubergine Harvest October 2009

I had quite an unusual aubergine harvest this year. Along with my tried, tested and favourite aubergine Szechuan I also grew Oeuf Blanc the classic white egg shaped aubergine, two varieties from Thailand Thai Long Green and Thai Round White/Green and the purple standard bearer Black Beauty..

I can’t make too harsh a judgement on any of these varieties on just one seasons performance, particularly this year as we had such a harsh summer and wild boars got into the garden. Early in the year the temperatures were up and down and not really warm enough for the heat loving crops at night by mid summer it was warm enough but then we got strong drying winds that lasted most of July and August making even the heat loving crops struggle to set fruit. By late summer the weather settled and we’ve been having lovely late summer sun and plenty of aubergines to harvest.

Aubergine, Oeuf Blanc

Sezechuan still out-shone the rest producing slim, shiny pointed purple aubergines with lime green flashing at the stem end. Flesh was clean, mild and delicious.
Oeuf Blanc I really liked this aubergine slightly mushroom taste clean dense flesh, I’d definately grow this one again.
Thai long green were not as long as I had expected them to grow but the flesh was good dense and good to eat.
Thai Round White/Green the fruit were small dense and turned seedy very quickly

The growth habbit of all varieties was stunted, the plants did not get above 60cm tall and yields were relatively low so I have to put this down the the growing conditions, because the Szechuan will grow into big sturdy bushes in a good season and produce lots of fruit, enough to put some of the harvest up for winter.

Preserving the Harvest
See this DIY Guide to Storing Your Eggplants, or drying peppers and Aubergines on Olives and Artichokes or check out some of my aubergine recipes at Cevenol Kitchen.
Original post 16/10/2009: