Red aubergines – Basilicata’s strange fruits
In Rotonda, special micro climate and unique soil enable farmers to grow red aubergines originating in Africa.
-Senti, do you know this crop? I shouted to my toothless neighbour and handed him a solid, round, shiny, red vegetable.
After a lifetime as contadino cultivating crops like olives, capers,and lemons, the neighbour takes great pride in knowing all aspects of agriculture, and he is deeply interested in all questions regarding what to grow where and how.
Greengrocer selling red aubergines in Rotonda. The green fruits turning red beneath the red aubergines are tomatoes
From Africa to Rotonda
The present vegetable was a present from the cook and owner of the restaurant Il Tempo Perso in Rotonda in Basilicata. Rotonda in the Pollino national park has a special micro climate and unique soil, and therefore they are able to grow a red and round eggplant.
Red aubergines originate in Africa, and it is the size of an apple, but similar to a tomato in shape and color. Consequently, the Italian name is melanzana rossa or melanzana a pomodoro.
Botanically the red eggplant is unrelated to the more ordinary purple eggplant, which came to Europe from India, but the taste and preparations are alike, although residents in southern Basilicata think the red eggplant has a stronger and more exotic taste.
Red Aubergines Won’t Grow Anywhere Else
All this is unknown to my neighbour, who studies the red aubergine intensely and discusses it with his wife, who brings forth a knife, so that they can take a closer look at the flesh and the seeds. Still, they find the crop intriguing and strange. And after having been told the story, they decide to dry out the seeds to see of they can make them grow.
We had hoped, we would not have to go to Pollino to taste the extraordinary melanzana rossa, but as we had been told by the people in Rotonda, red aubergines won’t grow anywhere else. At least not in Puglia.
Sorry for the clashing colours, but the red aubergine is a lovely vegetable that tastes like ordinary eggplants.
Italian Notes
I’ve never heard of a red eggplant before! I can’t believe it tastes the same as a regular one, as it looks so different. Very interesting!
It’s very rare I think. Rotonda is a tiny hilltop with a small population of about 3.500 people.
One of our friends has grown some Red Aubergines from seed. We live in Malaga province in Andalucia Spain. So they will grow outside of Italy, but then again we are very close to Africa .
How interesting. Wonder if your friend got their seeds from Rotonda or from East Africa…
I just found these at my brother’s kitchen garden(we live in Kenya) and I’d never seen or heard of them before! They are growing very robustly!
I accidently grew some in my greenhouse (Northumberland UK) from plants given to me. Went into aubergine curry, nicer texture than regular, less ‘spongy’.
That’s a gift, I suspect it is hard to reproduce. Glad to hear you enjoyed them.
Got one from a restaurant owner in Venezia who could see i was interested. I will try to grow them in my garden (Denmark)
Being from Denmark I’d be interested in hearing how that works out.