Japanese Eggplant seed Solanum melongena

LATIN NAME: SOLANUM MELONGENA

COMMON NAME: Japanese Eggplant, Kurume Long Purple

The Japanese eggplant is one of the most elegant of the kitchen vegetables, and its long, slender, glossy, purple-black fruits have made it a favourite of the gardens and the kitchens of the East. It grows as a bushy, upright, tender perennial, usually treated as an annual, of the nightshade family, reaching up to a metre or more, with upright, branching stems bearing large, oval, lobed, softly hairy, dark-green leaves and, in the warmth of the summer, nodding, star-shaped, pale-violet flowers, followed by the long, slender, glossy, purple-black fruits which hang among the leaves. It is a species of the flowering vegetable, native to the warm regions of South Asia, while it has been grown and selected in the gardens of Japan, Korea and China for a very long time, and it is known as the Japanese eggplant.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Japanese eggplant has a real and distinguished place in research. It has been studied in the horticulture and the plant breeding, since the Japanese eggplant is one of the most selected of the oriental vegetables, and the researchers and the breeders have examined its many named forms, its breeding and its cultivation, while the long, slender, glossy fruits have drawn attention in the international horticultural press, and the breeding of the eggplants has been of continuing interest across the years. The plant has also been studied in the food science and the nutrition, since the purple skin of the eggplant contains anthocyanin pigments, and the researchers have examined the fruit, its constituents and its value in the kitchen, while the study of the eggplants and their nutrition has drawn attention in the international food and botanical press. The species has also been studied in botany, since it is a member of the nightshade family and a close relative of the tomato and the potato, and its relationships and its domestication have been examined, while the nodding, pale-violet flowers of the Japanese eggplant have been of interest to the botanists. For a vegetable of such elegance, the Japanese eggplant has a rich and distinguished record of research.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

To grow the Japanese Eggplant from seed, ecologically, the Japanese eggplant is a generous plant of the warm kitchen garden. Its nodding, pale-violet flowers feed the bees and the insects of the summer, and its bushy, leafy growth gives a fine cover and a shelter to the small creatures, while its long, glossy fruits have made it a treasure of the oriental kitchen. Its economic value is real: the Japanese eggplant is prized as one of the most elegant of the kitchen vegetables, and its value has drawn attention in the international horticultural and food press, while its long, slender, tender fruits have made it a favourite of the gardens and the markets of the world. To raise the Japanese eggplant, sow the seeds in pots of warm, moist compost in a bright, sheltered place, keep them gently watered, and grow the little plants on in the warmth.

sow the seeds in pots of warm, moist compost in a bright, sheltered place, keep the young eggplants gently watered, and grow the little plants on in the warmth.

  An attractive, early maturing variety with long, slender, sweet and mild flavored. Slender fruits are excellent for frying, cooking and pickling. Plants are highly productive and disease resistant. Yields of 40-50 fruits per plant are not unusual.