When to Pick Eggplants

When to Pick Eggplants

It’s an acquired taste, and its fruit is often smothered in sauces, breadcrumbs, grilled or surrounded with vegetables in a ratatouille. The eggplant (Solanum melongena) most often associated with food preparation in the United States is actually mild in taste and very low in calories. Known as the globe eggplant, it’s easy to grow either in a vegetable patch or a container. The proper time to harvest an eggplant depends on the type growing in your garden. Chinese, Sicilian and all other eggplants have the same botanical name but different growing patterns. All are best grown in a tropical climate but flourish in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 4 through 10.

A Bit of Eggplant History

As with most of our fruit and vegetables, eggplant, which actually is a fruit, not a vegetable, and a member of the tomato family, originated in Southeast Asia thousands of years ago. The eggplant you’re familiar with today came from India. The Moors brought them to Spain, Sicily and the South of France via North Africa, and they flourished in the warm Mediterranean sun.

All the cultivars, from the round Sicilian to the elongated Chinese and Japanese and the bell-shaped White and Italian, have similar harvesting times and tastes. Fewer seeds are found in the Japanese and Chinese eggplant, yet all can be harvested and prepared the same way.

Harvesting a Globe Eggplant

Your trellis is loaded with shiny eggplant. The globe eggplant is the most common of the species, and diners are most familiar with it. Knowing when to pick your eggplant means tracing backwards to when the transplant or the seeds were placed in the soil and counting the days. Inspecting and touching the eggplant also let you know when it’s ready to be snipped from the vine.

Getting the Timing Right

If you wait too long to pick your eggplant, it’s bitter. If you snip too soon, it’s underdeveloped. Seventy to 120 days is the typical growing period of eggplants, depending on your hardiness zone. With such a long maturation period, using your eyes and fingers becomes the best determinant of ripeness.

The best eggplant is harvested just before it’s fully ripe, when it’s young and tender. This is when it’s at its sweetest. Look for a firm, shiny skin. Don’t wait for the plant to grow into the size you find at the market because homegrown eggplants are usually smaller. Press the skin, and if your finger bounces back without leaving a dent, it’s ready.

Don’t let the skin become dull or wrinkly. Tap the outside of the plant. If you hear a hollow sound, it’s overripe and bitter. As a last resort, slice into one of your plants and examine the flesh. If it’s firm and creamy in color or white, and you don’t see seeds, it’s ready. As you become more familiar with your plants, you won’t need to sacrifice one for testing.

The Delicate Eggplant

Protect your hands and arms by wearing gloves; the eggplant vine can irritate your skin. Hold the eggplant in one hand, and using pruning shears, snip it from the vine about 1/2-inch above its green “cap.” Don’t pull or twist. Treat it gently as it is quite delicate. Not all eggplants mature at the same time, so harvesting may take several weeks.

Eating Freshly Harvested Eggplant

Once an eggplant is harvested, it remains fresh on the kitchen counter for a few days. If you don’t plan to use it immediately, it’ll keep in the refrigerator for seven days. The best alternative is to use it right away in a recipe and freeze the result!

References

Writer Bio

A versatile writer, Jann enjoys research as well as doing the actual writing. A career in television writing, as a magazine contributor and editor and celebrity interviewer, Jann adapts to her environment, having traveled the world, living overseas and packing and unpacking her treasures for a new location over 30 times.