EGGPLANT, Garden Egg

Solanum aethiopicum  

Approximately 40 seeds per pack. 

Germination: BELOW STANDARD  - BOTANICAL SAMPLE 

DISCOUNTED SEED $2 per packet Old Germination Date

 Garden Egg is a cherished staple vegetable in West Africa, rivaling peppers and tomatoes in popularity, and demonstrating a wide range of diversity in size, shape, color, form, and flavor. This variety comes from Michael Carter Jr. of Carter Bros. Seeds and Carter Farms. Like most varieties of garden eggs, they can be rather bitter — African people generally appreciate bitter flavors much more than most Americans.

The fruits start out green, then become a pale green/white when full-sized (at their most tasty stage), and then orange. They're still quite tasty at the orange stage, but the seeds are not very good eating (and may contain potentially harmful alkaloids) so they should be removed. People in West Africa sometimes eat the leaves as well, after cooking, but we haven't tried them (it's likely they contain some alkaloids too). There are plenty of recipes available online for this species.

A meaty stew made from garden eggs is very popular. Seeds for a flat-fruited version of this plant are occasionally sold as "pumpkin-on-a-stick," and used in Halloween decorations, but those apparently don't taste so great. Thankfully this one does!