Robin Torquati, owner of Heaven on Earth Starts, grows and sells over 150 varieties of open-pollinated start vegetables, culinary herbs and medicinal plants. These baby plants are ready for the garden and have been grown from organic seeds. About 20
Robin Torquati, owner of Heaven on Earth Starts, grows and sells over 150 varieties of open-pollinated start vegetables, culinary herbs and medicinal plants. These baby plants are ready for the garden and have been grown from organic seeds. About 20 percent of the seeds that Torquati uses are saved from plants that were grown in her garden.
Torquati has been gardening on Kauai for 15 years and selling plant starts since 2010. Every Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m., she co-hosts KKCR’s “In the Garden, on the Farm” radio show with Paul Massey of Regenerations Botanical Garden. She also volunteers for the Kauai Seed Exchange which serves to collect, regenerate and distribute plants and seeds that grow well on Kauai.
What’s growing: Asian greens, basil, cilantro, chives, cucumber, dill, eggplant, kale (curly, rainbow lacinato), lettuce, marigolds, okra, parsley, rainbow chard, sunflowers, tomato (cherry), zinnias.
Louisiana long green eggplant
First domesticated in India and Bangladesh from the wild nightshade, eggplant varieties are also commercially grown in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Mediterranean coast and more recently, the Americas. As a member of the genus Solanum, it is related to both the tomato and the potato, but classified as a berry. Early varieties were so bitter, when the fruit was first introduced to England, the British grew it as an ornamental. Eggplant lost its bitter reputation in the 18th century when new varieties were developed.
Most people are familiar with the large, dark purple globe eggplant. But there are more than 50 heirloom varieties such as the palm-sized, dark, round “Black Beauty,” the teardrop-shaped Pandora striped rose with violet colored skin and thin, lilac stripes; squat white Edirne purple striped, and many varieties ranging in color from the creamy white Casper to yellow, orange and bright red.
At Kauai farmers markets, you’ll likely see tapered purple Japanese pickling eggplant; long and skinny, fuschia colored Fengyuan purple eggplant or round eggplants with purple skin and white stripes known as Listada de Gandia. Louisiana long green eggplants are a rare, high-yielding heirloom variety originally from Louisiana. The flavor is rich and nutty and the fruit has light green skin and white flesh.
Season: Eggplants are prolific and take about 80 days to grow from seed to harvestable fruit. Torquati’s starts are about 20 days old. Plants flourish from April through August and will continue to bear fruit until October. If you plant them now, you’ll have fruit in early July.
What to look for
Look for firm, heavy fruit with smooth and shiny skin. Avoid those that are soft, bruised or light for their weight.
Eggplants are delicate and tender when eaten soon after harvested, but will become tough and bitter with age. Store in the refrigerator for up to three days. If you have a bountiful harvest, pierce eggplant skin in several places, roast at 400 degrees until tender, about 30 minutes, cool, pack in airtight containers and freeze for up to one year.
Tips
Mulch pale skinned eggplant, such as Louisiana long green or Casper, as they will easily sunburn. Avoid fruit dangling on the ground, or Armadillidiidae, also known as pill bugs or roly polies, will eat them.
For best results, eat eggplant the day it’s harvested. Those that have been refrigerated are still tasty, but the flesh is less delicate and darker in color. Raw eggplant is not recommended and cooking develops a creamy texture and rich flavor. Most eggplants can be eaten with or without their skin. However, the larger ones and those that are white in color generally have tough skins that may not be palatable.
Modern eggplant varieties are not bitter when eaten within days of harvest. Some recipes recommend sprinkling salt on cut eggplant and resting for 30 minutes to remove bitterness. This may work well for ones that have been in long-term cold storage during shipping. I don’t salt eggplant from my garden or the farmers market and have not experienced bitterness.
When frying or sautéing, eggplant can absorb oil like a sponge. To save calories, add diced eggplant to a hot pan, pour in 1/2 cup of water and drizzle in one tablespoon of oil. Cover and cook over medium heat until tender, remove lid and let liquid evaporate.
Popular eggplant dishes include India’s curry, French ratatouille, Italian caponata, Asian stir-fry and the Middle East’s moussaka. They can be added to pasta sauce, cut into rounds, grilled and added to salads, made into a tomato and eggplant casserole or roasted and blended into a dip such as baba ghanoush. Thin slices can be grilled and rolled around a filling, used to make eggplant gratins, or layered in a pasta-free lasagna with ricotta and tomatoes.
Eggplants pair well with peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, chard, chickpeas, white beans, lentils, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, basil, cilantro, parsley, feta, Parmesan and mozzarella.
Health benefits
Eggplants are good brain food. Research on nasunin, a phytonutrient found in eggplant skin, has been shown to protect cell membranes from damage. In animal studies, nasunin has been found to protect the lipids (fats) in brain cell membranes, which are responsible for protecting cells from free radicals, letting nutrients in and wastes out, and receiving instructions from messenger molecules that tell the cell which activities it should perform.
Eggplant is among a small number of foods that contain measurable amounts of oxalates, naturally occurring substances found in plants, animals and human beings. When oxalates become too concentrated in body fluids, they can crystallize and cause health problems. For this reason, individuals with kidney or gallbladder problems may want to avoid eating eggplant.
Heaven on Earth starts can be found at The Start Cart in front of Hoku Foods Natural Market and the Namahana farmers market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Starts are also available to farmers. For more information, call 652-1431 or email heavenonearthstarts@gmail.com.
• Marta Lane, a food writer on Kauai since 2010, offers farm to fork food tours and is the author of Tasting Kauai: Restaurants – From Food Trucks to Fine Dining, A Guide to Eating Well on the Garden Island. For more information, visit TastingKauai.com.
