8 Types of Eggplant Varieties From Around the World

Eggplant (Solanum melongena), also known as aubergine and brinjal, is a perennial, warm-season vegetable from the nightshade family. Eggplant come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. The most common eggplant variety in the US is the globe eggplant: this hefty variety has glossy, deep-purple skin and spongy fruit. Other commonly cultivated varieties include white eggplants (used in Middle Eastern dishes like baba ganoush), Thai eggplants, Black Beauties, Ichiban, Rosa Bianca, and Little Fingers.

Eggplants come in various shades and sizes, ideal for grilling, tossing into a stir-fry, or sliced into rounds for saucy eggplant parmesan, caponata, or summertime ratatouille. Here’s a small sampling from the world of eggplants:

1. 1. Chinese eggplant. Chinese eggplant are long and slender, ranging in color from light lilac to dark purple. Like other Asian cultivars, they have very few seeds, which reduces overall bitterness. The skin is relatively thin but holds up well to stir-fries and grilling.
2. 2. Fairy Tale eggplant. Tender, pint-sized heirloom Fairy Tale eggplant, with their striped purple-and-white skin, are incredibly convenient to grill and serve as individual side dishes for a large group of people.
3. 3. Globe eggplant. The most common eggplant variety in the US is the globe eggplant: this hefty variety has glossy, deep-purple skin and spongy fruit with many seeds. When cooked, globe eggplants can take on a meaty, savory flavor, and their thick skin makes them ideal for charring over open flames.
4. 4. Italian eggplant. Italian eggplant closely resemble globe eggplant, sharing the same elongated teardrop-shape, though they’re on the smaller side and have a more tender texture and pronounced sweetness. Popular Italian heirloom varieties include Rosa Bianca and Black Beauty.
5. 5. Japanese eggplant. Japanese and Chinese eggplant are often mistaken for one another in most grocery stores, thanks to their nearly identical long and skinny shapes. Japanese eggplant tends to be on the darker purple side—even inky black. They feature a firm flesh with a mildly sweet, delicate flavor that turns creamy when cooked and tiny seeds.
6. 6. Taiwanese “Ping Tung” eggplant. This Taiwanese hybrid variety produces long, dark purple fruits similar to Chinese and Japanese cultivars. Its firm flesh has a lower moisture content than a standard globe eggplant, which means it doesn’t need to be salted before cooking to guarantee a tender, creamy interior.
7. 7. Thai eggplant. Most of the many cultivars of Thai eggplant are the size of cherry tomatoes, with a deep green or white color. Due to their miniature size, they’re especially easy to add to a stir-fry since they don’t take long to cook.
8. 8. White eggplant. There are many white varieties of white eggplant—among them the Casper, Cloud Nine, Ghostbuster, Albino, and Tango. As long as they’re of the culinary, not ornamental, variety, you can use them in the same way as purple eggplants.

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