Organic Rosso di Napoli Eggplant

Description

HEIRLOOM Gorgeous, abundant and utterly delectable, this exquisite eggplant is beloved throughout the Mediterranean and especially in Ethiopia! Though most photographed as brilliant orange and glossy as can be, Rosso di Napoli is most succulent and sweet fruits turn from green to cream. Far sweeter than most eggplant varieties, we never salt Rosso di Napoli and love them tucked into ratatouille and simmered in coconut milk, taking care to not cook them at temps higher than ~300 F / 150 C which bring out bitterness in otherwise buttery, sweet fruit. Compared to Turkish Orange, the fruits of Rosso di Napoli are larger on average though still darling and petite, often the size of a plum to tennis ball.

You’ll soon see their leaves are serrated, notably unique compared to all other eggplant we’ve ever seen and indeed: Rosso di Napoli is a different species than purple and white eggplant. Though we generally don’t need to stake or trellis eggplant, we’ve found Rosso di Napoli to be so prolific that staking helps the sheer abundance of fruit from breaking branches, it’s true! Even the tender buttons of fruit we love to harvest before our first fall frost for a warm, sumptuous curry to welcome autumn.

At Fruition, we sow eggplant in soil blocks indoors 2 months before final frost, early April for us here in Zone 5, germinating them on heat mats with ease. Good light is essential: Younger, less stressed seedlings are healthier and more abundant than older, more stressed seedlings.

Eggplants are heavy feeders, so nourish them with nutrient-dense soil as well as fish and kelp emulsion for an abundant harvest.

Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,

& the whole Fruition Crew