Gilo Verde Escuro

African eggplant, Solanum aethiopicum. This variety has a slightly bitter flavor, though it is tolerable. It also has a vegetative, green flavor, and is creamy. Plants produce numerous, small, egg-shaped fruit that are solid, dark green when immature and turn bright red at maturity. Fruit are eaten at the green stage. Sweet, with good flavor. Thick skin. 1-3 fruit per node. No prickles. Small white flowers. Plants reach 4-5 feet tall. Top performing variety when grown at Heritage Farm in 2021; highly productive in 2024. Donated to SSE by Suzanne Ashworth, the owner of Del Rio Botanicals. She received this variety circa 1991 from John Riley, the co-founder of California Rare Fruit Growers Inc. SSE Accession # 109511