Here's another photo

Here is a link that might be useful:

They are the cutest eggplants I've ever seen. I wouldn't know what to do with them. I use my regular and my Ichabon eggplant for eggplant-pepper parmigiana.

I would think those would sell like hotcakes at a farmer's market!

I use eggplant in ratatouille. Even my squash and eggplant hating husband likes it.

OMG.

DO you know the variety name. your seeds are probably going to fail. to make eggplant seeds you MUST allow the eggplant to remain on the plant for a very long time after ready to eat. well maybe you can leave it indoors on a counter. It is most important that the seeds remain in the eggplant as long as possible.

when eggplant is made for seeds they leave the eggplant on the plant until it goes at least brown and changes to where it can no longer be eatten.

Those eggplant look super good and I would love to grow them. Hope you know the variety name. hope I can find them. hope you get some good seeds for next year. best would have been probably to leave one plant with some eggs on them until as late as possible to harvest. hopefully leaving in the kitchen for a month or more will help.

here is a short quote off the seed savers exchange website.

Seed Saving: Isolate 1/4 mile from other eggplants to prevent crossing. Let the fruits grow far past maturity, so that the seeds can be removed from the soft flesh. Most seeds are brown and are usually located at the bottom of the fruit.

below is the story with pictures of someone who failed because he did not let them go long enough. interesting read and pictures on saving eggplant seeds. they germinated when new but not in the spring. they died because they were not ripe enough.

those are great eggplant seed do you remember where they came from.

Here is a link that might be useful: seed saving pictures included of eggplants

here is a comment i found on that web site. someone posted this.....

Thanks Christina for your comment.

I must add, that I had a comment from Thailand in my danish language version, suggesting that the eggplants should be more ripen, into the state of starting to rot, before taking out the seeds.

here is anothe quote more about separating seeds.......

Eggplant seeds are minuscule and not easily separated from the flesh. If you have waited long enough, the pulp can sometimes be teased away from the seeds by hand. If that doesn't work, pulverize it with a potato masher or with a small food processor, so that the maximum number of seeds are exposed. Then, put the entire mess in a pail of tepid water and leave it there until the seeds have settled to the bottom. Skim the top off, and pour the remains through cheesecloth or a fine strainer. Sometimes you have to do several rinses to achieve a state of marginal cleanliness, but don't feel that the final product must look as sparkling as what the seedsmen provide.

All the eggplant at the farmers market in September must have been overripe. I could dig the seeds out easily. And the flavor was awful.

I brought my container eggplant inside, and it seems to be doing ok. I've got more growing now than I did all summer. A little fertilizer worked wonders.

Oh, those are so pwecious! I imagine you could cook them any number of ways. If the skin is tender, I'll bet you bread them, spray with olive oil, bake and serve for appetizers.

Eggplant can used as a perrenial in this zone, so I've got the Rosa Bianca and Long Purple varieties fruiting in containers in the yard now. I also have a Pandora Striped Rose started and a tray of the Fairy Tale variety germinating. They, too are mini eggplants and this is what one site has to say about them and the recommended preparation:

"ÂFairy Tale is a petite plant with decorative miniature eggplants. The fruit appearance is as luscious as the taste. ÂFairy Tale eggplants are white with violet/purple stripes. The fruit are sweet, non-bitter, with a tender skin and few seeds. Another superior quality is the window for harvest. The elongated oval eggplants can be picked when quite small at 1 to 2 ounces or they can be left on the plant until double the weight, and the flavor and tenderness remain. ÂFairy Tale eggplants are recommended for marinating and grilling whole. The harvest can begin in just 49 to 51 days from transplanting. The petite plant reaches only 2½ feet tall and wide, perfect for container gardening. An eggplant has not won an AAS award since 1939, so ÂFairy Tale is truly an exceptional new variety."

Here is a link that might be useful: Fairy Tale at Colorado State

I think yours are Bambinos. i found them and Calliope, another miniature brand described at containerseeds.com

Bambino Hybrid
This 52 day hybrid goes to about 12"tall and yields masses of 1 1/2" diameter round eggplant. Great for frying, cooking, and pickling. Recommended Container Size: you can grow 3 to 4 plants in a 10 gallon container. Or at least a 10" pot.

Calliope Hybrid:
Calliope will yield lots of small eggplants even under challenging conditions (cool climates) - making it an excellent choice for northern gardeners. The eggplants are tear-drop shaped and are violet streaked with white and very pretty indeed. Pick them when 2" in diameter for baby eggplants, 4" in diameter for mature eggplants.

Here's a recipe that may work well for your teeny eggplants. My family enjoys this one. I have used both the Ichibon and regular eggplants for this, so I'm sure that you could use the little ones successfully. Hope you like it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hot and Sour Chinese Eggplant

I have bought some the same size in my local Armenian produce store (they always have at least 3 types of eggplant, sometimes 5-6 types!) but they were lighter in color than yours. If you manage to save seeds and have enough to trade I would love to trade you for whatever I have that you like!

Ratatouille works very well with those, also a Sicilian salad called Caponata (If you'd like the recipe I can post it). The other idea that comes to mind is to skewer them with other bite size veggies and grill with a marinade, making veggie kebabs.

I have some just like them and they are Bambino. I got the seeds from the seed exchange forum here on GW. The seeds I planted were from 2004 and EVERY ONE of them germinated. I had so many plants that I sold them. I have not tried mine yet, but I did just harvest a bunch of them. I had read they are great for grilling in a shiskabob.