Turkish Eggplant

July 12, 2009

Here are some pictures of a recent harvest of Turkish Eggplant, also called Orange Eggplant. This is my first time growing this type of eggplant. The plant has large leaves and looks really robust. It took 60-70 days before fruits appeared. The fruits look more like tomatoes in size and shape and turn bright orange when fully ripe; it is however an eggplant (see image on right). Fruits are ready for picking when they start to acquire a slight orange tint. The fully bright orange-red ones turn soft on the vine and they are not desirable for cooking. We made a stir fry curry from our first harvest but it tasted quite bitter; some tamarind could have helped annul the bitterness. Then we discovered that the bitterness originates from the skin. If you broil or grill the eggplant and use just use the fleshy part , discarding the skin, it should make a flavorful "babaghanoush" or "baingan bartha".