Eggplant is in season in Florida ten months out of the year, though the majority is produced during the fall and winter.¹ It is an important Florida agricultural commodity and can be prepared in a variety of ways, including as a meat substitute.² Look for firm, smooth-skinned² eggplants now at your local grocery store or farmers market.

Fun Eggplant Facts

• Florida ranks second nationally in eggplant production. In 2007, Florida produced 50 million pounds of eggplant!¹
• Most eggplant grown in Florida comes from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.¹
• Though most people are familiar with the oblong, dark purple varieties, eggplants may be white, pink, or variegated and can be spherical or long and thin in shape.³
• The name eggplant actually comes from the fact that the vegetable resembles an egg (this is especially true for the white varieties).⁴
• Eggplant is native to southern Asia and has been cultivated there since ancient times.⁴

1. Mark A. Mossler and O. Norman Nesheim, Florida Crop/Pest Management Profile: Eggplant, CIR1264, Gainesville: University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, 2012, https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi045
2. “Eggplant,” Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, n.d., http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Food-Nutrition-and-Wellness/Living-Healthy-in-Florida/Healthy-Learning/All-About-Florida-Products/Eggplant
3. Monica Ozores-Hampton, Conventional and Specialty Eggplant Varieties in Florida, HS1243, Gainesville: University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, 2014, https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1243
4. Marie-Christine Daunay and Jules Janick, “History and Iconography of Eggplant,” Chronica Horticulturae 47, no. 3 (2007): 16–22, https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/chronicaeggplant.pdf

Featured photo credit: Tyler Jones, UF/IFAS

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