Eggplant 7-18

[Shawn]

I am sure you will be watching these so they will be perfect

[MaryL]

Well these haven't really gotten any bigger so I guess it's time to harvest them. Or maybe I'll just start with the biggest 1 and see how it cooks up. Once I decide how I'll prepare it (eggplant can be so tricky), it'll be exciting!

6EE3AB3F-3FC5-495F-BE64-A997CB16969D by Mary Kribs, on Flickr

I see a Facebook Kit Winner there, Mary! Give it a go next week!

[Shawn]

I agree with Corinne! 

Lovely and I want to hear all about their taste

[MaryL]

I finally harvested several of my eggplants and roasted them.  They tasted great!





One of these was more mature than the other, as you can tell from the seeds

[Shawn]

They look great Mary!  How did you prepare them?

[MaryL]

A very simple prep so I could focus on the flavor.  I sliced them and just coated them with olive oil salt and pepper and put them in the toaster oven on “roast”.  The skin was a little crispy/tough prepared this way, but the flesh was nice and creamy.  You’ll notice that the raw flesh is much darker by the time I put the oil, S&P on simply due to exposure to the air - they almost look cooked already!  Then I put them on a pizza with other homegrown roasted veggies.

[Shawn]

My mouth is watering

Great harvest and meal! Love the colorful avatar as well. A Winner!

[MaryL]

While it remains to be seen as to the rest of any continued harvesting, I can positively say at this point that one of the HUGE benefits of this plant is that it is so short you can grow it in a short machine.  Granted, I did do an initial prune of the main stem, but I really don’t think it’s necessary, relative to the ultimate height (super short) versus the delayed fruiting.  I will caution, though, that the root ball is madness.  Next time I will grow in a short and smaller machine and trim the roots to see if it suffers.  

If anyone would like some seeds to experiment with this I’d be very happy to send some.

[Shawn]

Mary, I may want to try it in the future I just do not have a machine available yet.  Thanks however 

[MaryL]

Any time you’re ready

[MaryL]

This isn’t much to look at at this stage because it hadn’t gone into the oven yet, but i tucked the roasted eggplant under the sautéed orange peppers and onions and roasted tomatoes (and bacon pieces).  It was so tasty I forgot to take a pic of the cooked pizza.  We just ate it!

[Shawn]

It looks good even uncooked 

[MaryL]

I went to transplant my eggplant from a tall machine to a short Harvest to free up the tall one. The root ball wasn’t as huge a I remembered, thank goodness.  It was much more manageable. I had been concerned not only about getting it through the hole, but the small water capacity of the Harvest.





I love these little Harvests

[Shawn]

It is a Perfect Fit Mary 

Perfect! I love that color Harvest too. As for the meal..I could bite into it even before it went into the oven!

[MaryL]

It is a perfect fit, isn’t it?!  It used to look like this.  



Very clunky looking.  Granted the cucumber made me position them askew, so it didn’t normally look this bad, but still clunky.  Back when I bought these, the 3 hole machines were just as big as the 6, and I couldn’t fit 2 7-holers here.  So I’m very happy with these.  

[MaryL]

Nothing much has happened with this plant since I transplanted it. The fruit is looking a little pale as if it’s getting old, so I better harvest and cook it.    I did just give it a trim, cutting off the biggest and ugliest leaves.   It looks like there are just a few flowers starting to bud so maybe this plant can continue to produce, I don’t know.





I removed a lot!

my fingers are crossed for it being a winner!