Eggplant

Unlike the incredibly production eggplant crop in 2010, this has not been the best year for eggplant. Growing conditions have been good, though not great as we never got the intense summer heat that eggplant likes.

My problem was the greenhouse. Eggplant needs to get off to a strong start. This year, the eggplant got hammered by insects in the greenhouse. This causes stunted growth with the plant, fewer flowers and late development.

While everyone else has been harvesting eggplant for weeks, I am just now getting a few fruit. We will continue to harvest until frost, but certainly not in the quantities we are used to at One Love Farm.

I have posted many times before about eggplant. Here is a link to my first post about eggplant in 2008. Here is a post in 2010 about the lost eggplant year of 2009 (probably the reason there are no posts about the sad eggplant crop that year). I also posted later in 2010 about eggplant parm. In 2011 I talked about flea beetles preying on eggplant in this post. And, in this post from last year, I talked about how to freeze eggplant.

This year, I am preparing eggplant in a new way. Baba ghanoush. First I roast my eggplant on the grill with the skin on. When the skin gets charred I peel it off under cold water and chop the cooked eggplant. Setting the eggplant aside, I put some tahini paste and salt in a food processor and drizzle in olive oil until the mixture is smooth. Then, I fold in the eggplant. Most recipes will have you add the eggplant to the food processor, but I prefer to have the eggplant chunky for a nice texture. Just make sure the eggplant is fully cooked or it will be stringy and chewy (the worst!). Serve with pita chips or veggies like cucumber rounds or carrot sticks.