Denver Eggplant, Episode 2: Thai and Philippine varieties

GUESS WHAT.

The most exciting occasion for any eggplant blogger: new eggplants!

I got my hands on two varieties of eggplant that I’ve never tried, namely because they are only available in well-stocked Asian groceries and I have no car/rarely leave my stuffy abode.

While visiting my relatives, I took a trip to H-Mart, the Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese/Thai/Chinese superstore. I discovered the following in the produce aisle, at which point I mentally jumped up and down:

H-Mart sells six different eggplant varieties: common, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai and Talong (or Philippines eggplants). While the first four are familiar, as you may observe from my "Fab Four" recipe series, the last two I had seen only in pictures.

Thai eggplants are the glossy, hard globes on the left, 
while Philippines eggplants resemble Chinese eggplants with neon-green spray paint.

I decided to do a taste-test to compare the flavor of the two.

I sautéed the two varieties separately in olive oil. 

It’s almost as difficult to describe subtle flavors as musical timbres, but I’ll try my best: Thai eggplants have an immediate tart, chlorophyll-like bite, with a sour/bitter punch; like artichokes, their sweetness comes as an aftertaste. They lack the smooth creaminess of many eggplant varieties, featuring instead an aggressive, plant-y taste. Talong eggplants, in contrast, taste very much like Chinese eggplants – they are creamy and sweet with no real bitterness and a subtle, almost mushroomy flavor. If you’re faced with a decision between the two, I’d opt for the Talong over the Thai, for reasons which you will discover in my next entry. (Thai eggplants are undoubtedly cuter, though.)

Trying out new eggplants was enough of a treat that I’m newly motivated to locate Chicago-based sources of unusual eggplants. I'm hoping that, later in summer, heirloom eggplants will surface at local farmer’s markets.

A sack of eggplants sits abandoned amongst the apples.