Eggplant from Iran! I was so excited about this vegetable that I grew it even though this is an herb farm. These eggplants were fairly diverse in size and shape, which was unexpected. In the future, I hope to learn more about applications for eggplant in Iranian cooking that can help me select for the qualities that we desire most.

Eggplants generally require hotter climates than most of the seeds I’m offering, so before you plant them, do some investigating to see if others have successfully grown eggplant in your area. They also require more heat to germinate. I sowed seeds in May and I grew them out in 3in pots before transplanting them at the farm. There, I spaced them out twice as much as the herbs I grew, meaning they were 16in apart in two rows spaced 10in. The first eggplants were ready to eat at the end of July.

To save eggplant seed, you must let the fruit ripen past the point when you would to eat them. My farmer friend even lets the overripe fruit freeze and thaw in the field a few times before harvesting them in the Fall. We harvested these fruit in November. Saving seed from them is also more involved than most of the herbs! We cut up the eggplant into chunks and blended them in a food processor with water. Next, we let the pulp sit in a water bath, which allowed seeds to sink to the bottom of the bowl. The pulp and water were decanted off and the seeds remaining at the bottom were rinsed. We dried the seeds on towels and then in a food dehydrator immediately to prevent them from germinating.