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Hello all, this year for the first time I have. Aubergines growing big enough to eat. However since they have been dark purple and shiny since they were tiny, I'm not sure how to tell when to harvest them.

When do you take yours?
X sunloving

Aubergines are like many other show veg where quality rather than size is the priority.

Normally three fruits are required where each of the fruits  are ideally the same size, shape, bright coloured and free from blemishes.

When displaying them lay them in a pyramid shape with the nose pointing towards the front of the show bench.

The pointing system is as follows:

Condition 5 points
Size and Shape 5 points
Colour 4 points
Uniformity 4 points

BEST OF LUCK!

I have the same question, although I'm not interested in showing. Can you eat the aubergine fruits at any stage, or is there a sign of ripeness you need to check for? And if you pick them small, can you expect a bigger crop of small fruits rather than a small number of bigger ones?

baby aburgines taste great like baby courgettes .. perhaps better than that :)

bigger ones you can use for roasting where as tender /smaller will go yummy in curries and stews

Are we looking at a typo here?
"Aubergines, how do we know.........?"
Or is it a question about picking for putting into a show?

I have based my reply on the title!

Re: .......Aubergine show......... do you know when they are ready?

Quote
Can you eat the aubergine fruits at any stage, or is there a sign of ripeness you need to check for? And if you pick them small, can you expect a bigger crop of small fruits rather than a small number of bigger ones?

Regarding eating them I would say it is up to the grower.

Can you eat the aubergine fruits at any stage, is there a sign of ripeness you need to check for?

Young fruits tend to have a matt sheen on them so personally I would wait until they begin to shine.


if you pick them small, can you expect a bigger crop of small fruits rather than a small number of bigger ones?

If you pick them small there is no way of knowing how large they may have grown had they been left on the plant.

Size is often relative to the number of fruit on each plant as there is often a limit to the numbers a plant can sustain, then there is the watering and feeding factor.

I would say that with many types of fruit reducing the numbers often result in larger fruit.


So basically I would say the fewer the numbers means potentially the  larger the fruit.

So it comes back to showing / eating if I plan on showing then I would reduce the numbers (eating the thinnnings) but if not showing I think I would go for a greater number of medium sized fruit!

Thanks Elfeda & Teegee for your replies. This is the first year I have grown aubergines so it's good to have some advice. I tried last year but only 2 seeds germinated and then the plants died young for no apparent reason, but this year they're looking pretty good with several fruits on each plant. The seeds are Franchi 'Violetta lunga 2' which I think I got cheaply in the Wyevale seed sale last August. I did pick two today but I'll go and inspect the shininess of the other fruits tomorrow.

Well as I said in my post I was wondering when they are ready because they are both shiny and purple from very small.

However since they don't seem to sweeten or go from bitter to palatable then I think I'll just leave some on to see what the max size they reach is.

Aubergines are always eaten immature - if they truly ripen they become inedible.

When the paler types ones change colour to yellow, orange or red they have already ripened too far - they become more bitter and full of hard seeds  - they eventually develop much tougher skins and clear internal sections like a tomato and become even more bitter - but at that point the seeds will be viable for next year.

Some seedsmen show pictures of colourful ripe fruit as an incentive to buy the seeds - this is a triumph of marketing over common sense!

Unfortunately I'm not sure what black aubergines do...

Incidentally I recommend the small ones that ripen to orange stripy or red (sometimes called turkish) - they have much smoother leaves and definitely cope much better with spider mite.

This is very important if you use any kind of glass or plastic to get a better, more reliable crop.

I've given up on ordinary aubergines with a furry underside - they are an absolute magnet for spider mite - as are beans (which also have furry leaves).

Growing the ones that are identical to the ones in shops is daft anyway - they are dirt cheap at exactly the time when ours are ready here, and as I've already pointed out, ripeness isn't an issue - so as long as they are fresh enough to be shiny it's more sensible to buy them...

Cheers.

Quotethey are an absolute magnet for spider mite

.............and Whitefly!  This is one of the reasons I do not grow them anymore added to which they are pretty much tasteless to me. I would rather utilise my limited growing space (as I do) to growing sweet peppers.

Aubergines are a hit or miss crop for me. Some years are good some are bad. You need to give them a hand and cross pollinate them in case the insects haven't done their job.
I pick them anytime. Preferably at their biggest.
By the way don't salt them to "reduce bitterness" as recommended nearly all  the cook books. I have stopped doing this years ago and never noticed a problem (either with home produced or commercial ones). All you end up doing is having an incredibly high salt intake which doesn't do you much good!

I have an acre and a 40ft poly and my sweet peppers melons toms and various other things still leave room to grow aubergines. The first one was lovely. I'm looking forward to some baba ganush !

As for buying veg in the summer, that just seems anathema to me when I have the skills and space to grow my own for almost free. You may as well buy tomatoes and Tarmac over your yard.
I'm really thrilled to have such success because for me that's what growing is all about , that and beating all the old sexists at the local shows.

I really like aubergines.  I have taken to putting a small amount of oil on them and then zapping in micro wave for 1.5 mins and then frying.  Seems to take off much of the bitterness.

Had a lot on hols in Turkey they seem less bitter there though they are purple.   I will see if choosing smaller ones in Lidl are better, I am greedy so tended to choose a bigger one.  They do seem to be cheaper than they used to be.

The purple is supposed to be good for you.  Said to ward off cancer.
They are even supposed to be good for skin cancer when mixed with apple vinegar and used and an ointment.  Cannot persuade my BIL to try so no idea if it works. 

Hooray! Another aubergine fan!
I love them on pizza, after living in little Italy on the Bronx where they are used in lots of dishes, but on pizza was my fave.

I have a 6'x8' greenhouse just for aubergines. Black Beauty, Calliope and a finger one whose name eludes for the moment.

i grow black beauty in the greenhouse had a couple around 8/9" long another 4 or so to come well worth growing only in my opinion

While I was on holiday in Turkey I ate aubergines for breakfast lunch and dinner.  They did some wonderful aubergine stews and stuffed aubergine and fried aubergine.  In  the market the tables were piled high with them.  They seems to be longer and thinner than we normally see here.