Solanum melongena.

America's standard eggplant for more than a century. Released by the Burpee house in 1902 — the same year as the famous Golden Bantam corn, as if by a singular stroke of horticultural luck — Black Beauty has remained to this day the reference variety of North American vegetable gardens: it's the shape, the colour, the size you visualize instantly when you say "eggplant," the one you see on grocery shelves and in cooking magazines. But eggplant itself is far older — cultivated in India for more than 4,000 years, spread by the Arabs toward the Mediterranean in the 8th century (the word "aubergine" itself comes from the Arabic al-bāḏinjān, itself from the Persian bādenjān), and arriving late in Europe in the Middle Ages, where it was long called mala insana, "mad apple," out of fear of its membership in the Solanaceae family, which also includes poisonous belladonna.

Oval, heavy fruits 15 to 20 cm long, weighing 700 to 900 g, with a purple-black skin of an almost varnished gleam, and white, firm flesh, lightly bitter when harvested too old but mild and velvety at full maturity. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking has elevated it to star status: Greek moussaka in layers with ground meat and béchamel, Lebanese baba ganoush with flesh grilled over fire, smoked and mashed with tahini, Italian parmigiana baked with mozzarella and tomato, Niçoise ratatouille simmered with zucchini, tomato and pepper, Indian baingan bharta fire-roasted with garlic, Turkish imam bayildi stuffed with confit onions until "the imam fainted" with pleasure, says the legend. And the most useful kitchen secret: salt the eggplant slices, let them drain 30 minutes, then rinse and pat dry before cooking — it concentrates the flavour, eliminates any residual bitterness, and greatly reduces the amount of oil absorbed.

Grower's tip: Eggplant is probably the most demanding member of the tomato-pepper-chili family. It wants intense heat (germination at 25-30 °C), a long season, and hates anything that resembles cold — a chill snap in early season freezes the plant for weeks. Indoor start mandatory 10 to 12 weeks before transplanting, in individual pots, in a warm spot under a grow light on a heat mat. Transplant only when nights are stable above 15 °C in Québec — that means mid-June at the earliest, never sooner. The warmest available spot (south wall, sheltered garden) is mandatory. Harvest the fruits young and glossy — if the skin starts to lose its shine, they're too old and the flesh will be fibrous and bitter.

• Open-pollinated. Largely self-fertile, but some crossing possible with other eggplants nearby — isolate for seed saving.
• Height: 60 to 90 cm.
• Maturity: 70 to 80 days after transplant.
• Exposure: full sun, sheltered from wind. The warmest spot in the garden.
• Rich, deep, well-drained, warm soil. Space plants 50 to 60 cm apart.
• Indoor start 10 to 12 weeks before last frost, at 25-28 °C minimum. Transplant once all risk of frost is past and the soil is at 18 °C (mid-June in Québec).