thanks craig. i never found any eggplant to be bitter even store bought in the winter. the ichiban i was initially peeling then stopped and i just fried them with the skin on. i do peel those winter store bought eggplants but even those never struck me as bitter.
the varieties you name sound fine but it's way too late to start anything from seed. the selection of varieties at local greenhouses is very limited. most have black beauty or classic. both are rather long dtm but i do realize that the fruits can be picked at any point in their growth not necessarily just at full size. one place has dusky, little finger, lavendar touch and classic, the best selection of all. the place that had 6 or 8 varieties last year where i bought ichiban has just black beauty and 'some white' eggplant. last year they had neon, pingtong (sp) long and 2 purple varieties i found in tgs catalog. so i hoped they'd have those again. another place has generic names like 'a long thin type' an 'italian type' (whatever that means!) and a white. that reminds me of when i used to buy onion plants before i changed to buying seeds so i could get exactly what i wanted - there was a sweet spanish, a red and a yellow! no names, no idea about storage, taste or size, just generic names. another greenhouse has a no name variety that has a number like 2852, great that tells me a lot!
at this point i like your comment about lavendar touch. i think i'll get 1 lavendar touch and 1 little finger. it will be interesting to compare the growth of the plants, their vigor and their taste. who knows, perhaps i'll like the light eggplants.
is there a difference in flavor between the black, purple, lavendar, white, orange, green and yellow eggplants?
like everything else if you want something specific chances are you have to start it from seed.
tom
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