Are udmalbet and udumalapet eggplant the same variety?
 

Here is Sandhills blurb:

Udmalbet: 51 days. Fist sized. Starts out greenish with purple streaks, then turns a deep golden color with purple streaks. Very attractive and productive. Pkt. $1.25

Here is SSE's:

Udumalapet Eggplant

Another beautiful and edible striped eggplant. Heavy yields of teardrop-shaped fruits are green with vibrant lavender stripes and striking green calyxes. Best eaten small, when fruits are about 3" long. Consistent heavy producer at Heritage Farm in northeastern Iowa on the Minnesota border. 80-90 days from transplant.

I am growing the Sandhill one and it turned yellow with stripes. The SSE photo is yellow with purple stripes also. I assume these are the same?

Do you wait for them to turn yellow before harvest or are they also ok to harvest before the yellow color sets in?

Thanks

Hi, Michael - my assumption is that they are the same, since properly spelling that name (in fact, which one is correct?!) is likely a challenge! Can't help you on ripeness - I want to give it a try next year....will look forward to your report on its relative merits.

Craig-The dtms are way off, but I have noticed that with sandhill-theirs are often much shorter. The photo from sse looks like mine-only picked one fruit and I dont think it was ripe-applegreen was better.

hi, m.

according to a friend from india, the 2 names were orginally given to 2 different eggplants. upon leaving india, the seeds have had their names rather interchanged, unfortunately. i certainly remember being told/reading on a number of occasions that the 2 were the same.

in any event, as pretty as they are as objets d'art, their repetoire as edibles is fairly limited. for some reason, i've had little success using them in non-indo cuisine. apparently, the most popular way to use them is in chutneys and the like. And when they are small. the more yellow in the striping, the more over-ripe.

that's my experience anyway. not growing them this year because of those limitations--non-visual ones. am growing 14 other varieties though including a clustering one from india and a thai pea-shaped one.

cheers,
j

Jenifer-Thanks for the info. I was not that impressed with the flavor, even though I am eggplant starved right now-but there are several other fruit getting ready to be ripe.

Bringing this thread back - I got a fruit from Diane Ott at Monticello last year that they grew at the SSE site - saved seeds, and decided to grow some. So, the judgement is that this one is not a flavor favorite...anyone else have an opinion on its edibility???

Udumalpet (note spelling) is a town in southern India (in the state of Tamil Nadu close to its border with the state of Kerala) and it's my guess that the eggplant originated there. It's too close to be coincidental. I was within 40 km (25 miles) of this town last December and wanted to go there to check out the eggplants but my travelling companion vetoed the idea. We're still not on speaking terms!