Aubergine

Origin & history

The aubergine comes from India and Southeast Asia and reached the Mediterranean through Arab traders, where it has been grown since the Middle Ages. The forms first known in Europe were small, white and egg-shaped — hence the English “eggplant” and the old German name Eierfrucht. It only really arrived in German kitchens with Mediterranean and Turkish cooking from the 1960s onward.

Varieties

For German gardens, early varieties with small to medium fruit are the right choice — the slim, elongated types finish more reliably than the fat black supermarket ovals. There are also white, striped and pale violet varieties; the differences in taste are smaller than the differences in looks. Older varieties sometimes carry spines on the calyx, which the variety description will tell you. For a greenhouse, grafted young plants are worth it: they root more strongly and keep cropping further into autumn.

Care

Warmth is everything: greenhouse, south-facing wall or a tub of about 15 litres upward, plus a dark mulch that heats the soil. Tie to a sturdy cane early — a full-grown fruit easily weighs half a kilo and snaps the shoots. Water evenly and generously; if the root ball dries out the plant drops its flowers and the fruit stays small and tough. In our summers you leave four to six fruits on the plant and cut out the tip in early to mid-August so they actually finish.

What can go wrong

Flower drop is the main annoyance and nearly always has to do with temperature: cold nights below 15 °C, cold soil after planting out too early, and under glass also trapped heat. Better to plant a week later, put fleece on for cool nights and ventilate properly on hot days. Spider mites are the second greenhouse classic — fine pale speckling and webbing on the undersides of the leaves; they come with dry air, so water well, keep the humidity up and look at the undersides regularly. Aubergines, tomatoes and peppers are all nightshades and share the same soil-borne pathogens: they take the same slot in the rotation and should not come back to the same bed for at least three years.

Harvest, storage & kitchen

An aubergine is ready when the skin is glossy and a thumb press springs back only slowly; once the skin goes dull and the fruit feels hard it is overripe, the seeds turn brown and the taste becomes bitter. Cut it off with secateurs and a piece of the woody stalk. In the fridge it develops brown bruised patches — at 10 to 12 °C it keeps about a week, not much longer. Salting and draining is no longer necessary with today’s varieties, but it does reduce how much oil the flesh takes up when frying.

Frequently asked questions

Is the aubergine a perennial?

In its native range it is a perennial subshrub; in our gardens it is grown as an annual, because it is frost tender and does not survive winter outdoors. A potted specimen can be kept somewhere bright and frost-free, but it rarely beats a freshly raised plant in its second year.

What does an aubergine flower look like?

Violet to pale blue, nodding, with a yellow cone of anthers at its centre — much like an oversized potato flower. It is self-pollinating; under glass a quick midday tap on the flowering shoots shakes the pollen loose.

When do you sow aubergines?

From mid-February to 25 March, about nine weeks before planting out, with picking from August. It only moves to the bed or an outdoor container from 25 May — it reacts even more badly to cold nights than a tomato does.

Can aubergines be frozen?

Yes, but not raw: fried in slices or roasted in the oven and packed in portions they keep well, whereas frozen raw they thaw out watery. The simplest route is to grill them whole and freeze the scooped-out flesh alone.