Florida Market Eggplant

I bought this variety from the Seed Savers exchange on wim and LOVE it. It out preformed every eggplant seed I've every grown. I'm considered an advanced gardener, but I highly recommend this seed for everyone. It germinated first, grew fast, produced fruit first and heavily The taste was great. One year was a typical growing season and the next was horrid, but it preformed the same regardless.

I don't feel like this variety gets the love it deserves! It produces lots of good size, very deep purple eggz that keep from getting bitter even if you pick them a little late on robust plants that I could have cared for better. It also has a noticeable fresh flavor that has enough power to make an impression even through the sauce and cheese in an Eggplant Parmesan and seemed to retain more firmness after cooking than some varieties. It possibly has thinner skin than Black Beauty, though I didn't do a side by side comparison. My plants didn't get as tall as I expected but for sure still needed support. I started mine about a month late but they did produce consistently until the first frost and definitely start inside with your tomatoes as mine took closer to 90 days to really get going.

My father, who has gardened for decades and is set in his ways and usually gets whatever seeds Home Depot puts out without a second thought, went on a (6 or 7?) years-long, semi-inexplicable escapade trying to find an eggplant that met his suddenly exacting standards and now exclusively grows Florida Market every year (in coastal peninsular Florida, where he also has excellent results). I'm not a huge eggplant fan but added them last year as it was my first year growing for sales. I decided to not challenge his findings and I'm extremely happy with the results. There could be a better variety somewhere but grow these guys while you look for it.

PS: As there is no picture, this variety has a similar appearance to Black Beauty.