Yes, I've grown it many times. It's a very productive little eggplant. Actually, though, by the time they get that beautiful orange color, they are fully mature, overripe and full of hard seeds. You really should harvest when full sized but still green, at or before the first tinge of orange, for best texture and flavor.

I got that one too. It sounds cute, but I'm a little intimidated by the descriptions of it being bitter. Seems that it might be best picked before it gets much orange on it, peeled and salted, then cooked. (I always peel eggplant anyway.) I don't think it's going to make my list this year.

Last year was my first year of success with eggplant -- tried them in pots and they liked it. I grew black beauty and ichiban. Loved the ichiban -- tender and tasty. Won't grow black beauty again -- mine were not bad but nothing special. This year I have seeds for Hansel, Gretel, Slim Jim, Twinkle, Snowy, Ping Tung Long and Violetta di Firenze along with the Turkish Orange, and I think I have Rosa Bianca somewhere too. (!! -- I got most of those from a seed swap.) Not sure yet which ones I'll try to grow but probably will include Hansel, Gretel and Rosa Bianca.

Denninmi, it took me so long to get to finish my message that I didn't see yours. :) So Turkish Orange wasn't bitter for you?

Ichiban and Rosa Bianca are all I grow. Tasty and beautiful. The small ones, I believe, are more suited to pickling.

I have found it consistently NOT inclined to be bitter unless the plants are severely water-stressed.

I do not care about Egg plants, to slimy & yes I love okra.
I have been told that I should peel & cut into chunks, then salt & drain.
I grow the large purple for my wife & a co-worker who likes them.

Not familiar with growing the Turkish Orange, but I do love eggplant. For a couple of years now, we've grown Nadia, a globe-type dark purple that is very productive and good tasting. Also, Orient Charm, long pink fruits great for grilling and also very productive.
{{gwi:24297}}From Garden 2009

I keep growing Rosa Bianca because of its great taste, but it has not performed well for me.
{{gwi:24298}}From Garden 2010

Last year I grew Thai Long Green, which is touted as having wonderful flavor, but it too did not do well. I think we only harvested 2 fruits from one plant.
{{gwi:24299}}From Garden 2010

Perhaps this is related to the scourge of flea beetles and Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs!
FWIW, I never peel 'em, never salt/drain 'em when I cook eggplant.
Here is a quote from The Splendid Table:

Eggplant Tips

Jim Peterson, author of Vegetables, says the bitter taste frequently associated with eggplant really depends on the variety. He prefers either the white eggplant or the purple Chinese eggplant, which are long and thin in shape and a bit lighter in color. Jim does not salt his eggplant (to remove excess moisture) before using. He has tested extensively and found no difference in taste between salted and unsalted eggplant.

Denninmi, that's good to know.

I don't know if salting really helps with bitterness (though family members "back home" insist that it does). But it can definitely reduce the amount of oil soaked up if you fry it. I salt it if I'm going to fry it without a coating. I'd much rather grill it though, yum. Or saute with just a little oil, some onion, squash and (near the end) tomato, then let it cook on low for a few more minutes until it's all tender ... delicious over some sticky short-grain rice.

It appears that comments are right but the bottom line is that not everyone has the same desire when it comes to eggplants. I have a few customers of African decendency who demand the unique flavor of the Turkish Orange, Cannibal Tomato, Korean Red, Red China, Cookstown Orange, etc. These tend to be bitter and that may be one appealing aspect of them...one customer told me that she makes a dish called "Bitter balls" with them. And those that buy them to eat do not want the fruits fully colored; those might be better as decorations.

Therefore you might want to research your motives behind growing these varieties. I personally have developed a taste for the long slender varieties like Megal, Ichiban, Bride, etc. that can be quickly sliced into a vegetable medly with zucchini, tomato, broccoli and onions. My largest sellers are the standard teardrop shaped fruits like Epic, Dusky, Nadia or Night Shadow, but it appears that the general public is very interested in new ideas in how to prepare eggplant in different ways.

Denninmi, that's good to know.

I don't know if salting really helps with bitterness (though family members "back home" insist that it does). But it can definitely reduce the amount of oil soaked up if you fry it. I salt it if I'm going to fry it without a coating. I'd much rather grill it though, yum. Or saute with just a little oil, some onion, squash and (near the end) tomato, then let it cook on low for a few more minutes until it's all tender ... delicious over some sticky short-grain rice.

All I can say is that eggplants are not bitter if cooked well. One way that everyone agrees on is grilling. you can try the following as well:
1. Eggplant fritters - thinly slice eggplant with skin on, season it, dip in batter and deep fry it.
2. Eggplant Veegie - Fry it in little with onions, potatoes,and tomatoes until tender with proper seasoning. You got a great Eggpant veggie dish.
3. Grill the large round ones OR any eggplant until skin is charred. remove skin and put it in refrigerator for 24 hours. let the water separate out. Drain water out. Take grilled flesh out, mash it lightly. Fry lots of chopped/cubed onions with tomatoes and green peas, mix the mashed eggplant in it, season it, and eat it with pita bread , Yummy!

Favorite Hybrids: Ichiban & Millionaire
Favorite OP: Rosita & Ping Tung

Note also that some seed sellers claim to have Ping Tung hybrids.

I too like Ichiban and last yr had fair luck with Dusky in the shadiest part of my garden. Gonna have both 2012

I would actually like to get some Rosa Bianca and Ichiban if someone has seeds for trade. I can trade back Ping Tung and Rhim Jhim seeds

coffeehaus, Great plants.

I got the small, thin Japanese ones last year and ate them MUCH more often than I did the big ole black beauties that I've grown in the past!
They don't have to be pre-salted or peeled to prevent bitterness, you can grab one or 2 to chop up with tomatoes, onion,zuccini garlic for a quickie vege dish. The large ones have to be used all in one or two dishes and prepared as in peeling, salting etc. The smaller ones are more tender and less bitter.
There are only 2 of us in the huse, so we don't grow much of things we can't preserve! Nancy
Preserve by freezing, that is.

"Turkish Orange" (which is, by the way, not Turkish) is a little too bitter for my taste. Which is funny, coming from someone who grows a lot of bitter melon. ;-) I guess it just doesn't fit into the way I use eggplant. It's best use for me is dried ripe on the stem, as decoration. "Turkish Orange" is S. integrifolium by the way, which includes orange and red fruited eggplants.

I'll give T.O. credit though. It's much more shade tolerant than regular eggplant. Wish I could develop a taste for it.

There is a cultivated version of Gilo (Solanum gilo, from Brazil) which I found to be less bitter. The bushes were very large, growing to 4' even in my climate, and flowered profusely. Not many had time to ripen, though. The wild version which I grew another year was smaller and bitter. However, it had attractive black stems, so it was even better for decoration than T.O..

My favorite regular eggplants are the Asian types "Casper" (white fruited) and "Diamond" (dark purple). Both are resistant to the combination of cool weather & wilt which has killed or stunted most Asian-style eggplant I've tried here. "Diamond" bears like gangbusters, I get about 15-20 per plant for the season. "Casper" is more temperamental, but it is usually the first to bear, and really excels in cool years.

Nancy, I freeze a lot of Asian eggplant every year. After steaming them whole until cooked, I cool them, skin them, then freeze them (stem still attached) packed tightly in freezer bags. When thawed, they keep much of their flavor & a surprising degree of their cooked texture. We chop them up & mix them with egg batter for eggplant omelets, fry them with the stem on (split into eggplant 'fans'), or add them to soups.