Eggplant - Aswad

[Tucson Grower]

Another eggplant variety I think I'll try is Aswad, from Baker Creek.




I like it when one fruit could be a meal for one or even two people.

[chrysanthemum]

I bought some Aswad eggplant seed last summer but never grew it in Texas since I was attempting a different variety last fall.  I sent the seed to my mother this spring, and she started a number of plants.  They had trouble with flea beetles early on but survived and are growing large and healthy now.  There are flowers on all the plants, and small fruits on many.  The first fruit was ready to harvest this evening.  It’s not so large as the one pictured above, but it did weigh in at just about a pound.

[chrysanthemum]

Our family has been eagerly awaiting more eggplants.  They’ve been on the plants but too small to harvest.  This evening I got my mother’s approval to harvest a couple.  We got a third that was smaller because it had been damaged on one side.  I cut them all up, and my mother and I made a delicious ratatouille.  I can’t say that it was one of my favorite dishes as a kid, but I really love it now, and I’m glad that when my own children hear what I am making that they say, “Oh, good,” and really mean it.

The first photo shows the three eggplants and some other vegetables for the pan.  We didn’t use all the green peppers but did use everything else shown, I believe, as well as some olive oil and seasonings.  The last picture shows the chopped vegetables before they had had time to simmer down.  Once that step was finished, I didn’t get a picture.  We have two quarts left over for another meal.  I always think ratatouille is even better when it’s had time to meld more.

[chrysanthemum]

I took a photo yesterday of my mother’s row of Aswad eggplants.  I believe that she has nine plants that are somewhat beaten up by bugs but are producing nicely.  I need to get out with a ribbon to tie off the eggplant we’re planning to save for seed so that we don’t harvest it accidentally at some point.  We’re been enjoying these a lot.

[woodeye]

You have me anxious to plant eggplant seeds, chrysanthemum. I hope the Aswad eggplants do half as well here as they are doing in Virginia. As a backup I also want to plant Battir seeds, & Mitoyo seeds. But for now it's, have seeds will wait. Nice pictures! 

[chrysanthemum]

The eggplant I chose for seed-saving is maturing as all the plants are dying.  I’m hoping to get a good supply of seeds out of this one.

[chrysanthemum]

I brought in the seed-saving eggplant a good long while ago now.  I guess I failed to mention on the forum when I picked it.  It was sometime when temperatures were going to drop to the forties, and I wanted it inside by then.

Mostly it was sitting in our dining room or an a shelf in our bedroom.  It was shriveling a bit, and recently it started looking worse for wear with some evidence of decay starting.  I didn’t want the seeds to rot or become moldy, and I didn’t want the fruit flies that have been hanging out in the kitchen to find the eggplant, so I cut into it on Thursday and extracted what seeds I could.

I don’t know if it’s how I cut it or the type of eggplant or the state I let it get into, but the seeds weren’t the easiest to find.  They were all embedded in the flesh.  I was able to scrape them out and give them a good washing, then lay them out on paper towels and try to pick out seeds from fleshy debris.  Here’s a photo of the cleaned seeds drying on a fresh paper towel.






I should also probably add that I think that a number of the seeds were also showing tiny radicles when I was washing them.  Once I had them cleaned up and spread out, it was hard to see, so I’ll end up packaging them together, but I won’t expect a high germination rate.