Choosing aubergines

According to the shape and colour of the fruits

Eggplant is a fruit-vegetable well known for its epidermis of a beautiful deep purple that has even given its name to a colour.

However, while the Barbentane eggplant, the ’Bonica’, and the ’Violetta Lunga’ indeed offer a deep purple colour, this is not the case for all varieties.

Among the most original colours, we can mention particularly the varieties:

• white, such as the ‘Clara’ eggplant with its stunning white fruits;
• variegated, like the ‘Rania’ eggplant with fruits that are purple striped with cream white;
• black, such as the ‘Black Beauty’ with smooth skin of a beautiful purplish black;
• pink, like the ’Rotonda Bianca Sfumata Di Rosa’ with its small round fruits having white skin tinged with lavender pink.

Eggplants ‘Clara’, ‘Black Beauty’, and ‘Rania’.

Similarly, not all aubergines produce elongated fruits like the Sultane eggplant. These can also be ovoid, cylindrical, and even spherical, as with the ‘Ronde de Valence’.

Barbentane eggplant, ‘Ronde de Valence’ and ‘Little Fingers’ – © La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe

To add diversity to your vegetable garden, as well as to the colours of your dishes, you can therefore opt for varieties of different shapes and colours.

Based on the flavour of the fruits

Chameleon food par excellence, the aubergine offers generally a mild flavour, and it absorbs very easily the strong aromas of onion, garlic, chilli, sesame oil, and miso. Among the many existing aubergines, if we had to create a top 5 of the most delicious, it would consist of the following varieties:

1. The ‘Rotonda Bianca Sfumata Di Rosa’ is a variety as beautiful as it is tasty. Its pink fruits have a firm, fine, creamy flesh with a mild flavour, devoid of any bitterness.
2. The Barbentane aubergine, an early variety that produces long fruits (25 cm) and offers firm, tasty flesh, which can be used cooked, sautéed, stuffed, or stewed. This field variety is essential for ratatouille.
3. The ‘Clara’, a hybrid, early, and original variety, produces white fruits whose flavour is more delicate than that of darker varieties. Its fleshy, sweet, and fine flesh contains few seeds, making it perfect for tians, gratins, or stuffed dishes…
4. The ‘Rania’ aubergine produces fruits distinguished by their variegated epidermis, as well as by their firm, sweet, and melting flesh of excellent quality.
5. The ‘Ronde de Valence’ with its fruits of good flavour that have firm flesh and a pronounced taste.

Aubergine ‘Rotonda Bianca Sfumata Di Rosa’

Note: the ‘Blanche Ronde à Œuf’ aubergine is a more decorative than tasty variety. Indeed, its egg-shaped fruits have a tough skin, and the bitter flesh contains many seeds. However, this variety is very good, with a spicy flavour, when enjoyed very young.

According to the size of young plants

You may not have much space to grow your vegetables. If you live in a flat with a balcony or terrace, or in a house with a courtyard or a small vegetable garden, it’s best to focus on the varieties of aubergines that are well-suited for pot cultivation.

Aubergines ‘Blanche Ronde à Œuf’, ‘Ophelia’ and ‘Pusa Purple Cluster NT’ – © La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe

Thus, the aubergine ‘Blanche Ronde à Œuf’ is a dwarf variety, reaching only 25 to 35 cm in height, making it ideal for pot cultivation. Similarly, the aubergine ‘Ophelia’ is a dwarf and compact variety, also 25 to 35 cm tall, which grows very well in containers placed on the balcony or terrace. As for the aubergine ‘Pusa Purple Cluster NT’, which reaches 50 cm in height, it is an early variety that produces clusters of small purple fruits, and is perfect for square gardens, on the balcony, or in a small garden.

Depending on the productivity of the variety

Before everything, let’s remember that grafted plants of aubergines allow for quicker and more abundant harvests.

Among the varieties that stand out for their good productivity, we can notably mention the ‘Baluroi’ aubergine and the Bonica aubergine, or even the Violetta Lunga. However, the Barbentane aubergine remains the earliest and most productive variety of all.

Monstrous Aubergine from New York – © La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe

The Monstrous Aubergine from New York is also worth your attention. Indeed, while this variety has standard productivity for an aubergine, it offers especially very large fleshy fruits that can reach an exceptional weight of 4 kilos.

According to disease resistance

Eggplants can be susceptible to various fungal diseases affecting their leaves, such as downy mildew and powdery mildew, common afflictions among Solanaceae. Note that grafted varieties have better resistance to harsh outdoor conditions, and therefore to the diseases that arise from them.

Among the vigorous varieties with good disease resistance, consider eggplant ‘Bonica’, eggplant ‘Baluroi’, eggplant ‘Clara’, and eggplant ‘Avan’.

Useful resources

• Find all our aubergine varieties for sale in our online shop Promesse de fleurs
• Cultivation, harvest, and sowing… the aubergine will hold no secrets for you after reading our dedicated article
• Discover our aubergine seeds and our organic aubergines