Fairy Tale Eggplants are tiny eggplants with tender skin and white stripes. They look like baby eggplants next to full-sized eggplants! These tiny beauties are delicious when grilled and don’t need to be peeled or salted first making them a Farmer’s Market favorite.
Tiny lavender fruits (technically eggplants are fruit) with purple stripes are a favorite for so many reasons. The dainty eggplants don’t have the tough skins of other varieties of eggplants. The flesh is delicious.
Besides the adorable size which could fit in the palm of your hand (about 4 inches in length and 1 inch diameter) and the fresh flavor there are two main things that make these different than regular eggplant.
The delicate skin doesn’t to be peeled and the flesh doesn’t need to be salted to remove bitterness before cooking. This makes them a farmers’ markets prize find. You’ll find them at specialty grocers that have a wide variety of produce or a grocery store like Whole Foods Market.
Our favorite way to cook them is grilling them for a fantastic flavor. They are fast to cook and a great side dish for other grilled dishes. These fairytale eggplants do not become slimy in texture as some eggplant can.
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Recipe Ingredients Notes
Fairy Tale Eggplants. Plan 1-2 of these little eggplants per person. We specified 6 in the recipe to feed 4 but it’s a very flexible recipe. Adjust as needed for the amount being served. Slice fairytale eggplant into 1/2-inch thick slices lengthwise.
Olive oil. This will be used for basting the eggplant for grilling. One to two tablespoons will be used.
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. For seasoning.
How to grill Fairy Tale Eggplant
STEP 1. Heat the grill
Heat the grill to medium heat. Scrape and oil the grates.
STEP 2. Prepare the eggplant
Slice the fairy tale eggplant into 1/2-inch slices lengthwise.
STEP 3. Grill
Brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Grill on each side about 1-1 1/2 minutes.
NOTE: You will note the color change in the flesh from opaque yellowish-white to a more translucent, watery yellow, and in the purple skin to brown. Do not over grill.
Storing leftovers
The grilled eggplant is best eaten when cooked for best flavor and consistency.
Growing Fairy Tale Eggplant
For home gardeners growing Fairy Tale Eggplant is easy and rewarding. I’ve grown a variety called ‘Twinkle’.
These healthy plants are the fairy tale eggplants from my garden. The plants are no higher than about 12 inches with the plant on the right ready to harvest (eggplant are about 4 inches long). The plant on the left has a bit more to grow with the eggplant being about 2-3 inches in length.
They are great plants for small-space gardens or square foot gardens.
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Recipe
Grilled Fairy Tale Eggplant
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 Fairy tale eggplant
- 1-2 tablespoons Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the grill to medium heat. Scrape and oil the grill.
- Cut eggplant in the ½ inch strips lengthwise. Brush each side with olive oil and lightly salt and pepper.
- Grill on each side about 1-1 1/2 minutes. You will note the color change in the flesh from opaque yellowish-white to a more translucent, watery yellow, and in the purple skin to brown. Do not over grill.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published August 22, 2011
Laura (Blogging Over Thyme) says
I love small eggplant, especially the fairy variety (although I tend not to find those as often…). So beautiful! I also love that they are less bitter and have less seeds than the regular big kind.
Erin says
Those little eggplants are so pretty! They sound great grilled!
Sarah Catherine says
Beautiful! 🙂
Barbara | Creative Culinary says
These are too adorable. If not for a last minute show by daughter number two yesterday I was going to feature grilled eggplant on my blog today. Just the boring regular stuff but still. I just love these…and the name too? It's rare to find but this is a totally 'adorable' vegetable!
Kelly @ Eat Yourself Skinny says
What a stunning dish, this looks wonderful! 🙂
Jennifer says
Not too terribly different from the Japanese Eggplant – but what a beautiful name. I love eggplant and doing it this way as well. 🙂
Lea Ann (Highlands Ranch Foodie) says
I love these little eggplants! Will most definitely keep an eye out for them.
Lizzy says
Oh, how gorgeous, Toni! I hope I can find some of these beautiful fairy sized eggplant~
Boulder Locavore says
Josie Lee: I bet they would work in pots. I have not checked the roots but the plants are so compact the roots can't be that big. I have grown almost all vegetables in large pots with success. Can't imagine these would be any different!
Josie Lee Suská says
Those are absolutely charming!
I wonder if the plants could work in pots? Of course nice big wide ones. Have you noticed if they have long roots? Maybe a wide but somewhat shallow pot could work (kind of like it does with bush beans.)
Anonymous says
I'm sure a year later you've received an answer to this, but I am growing in a wine barrel – 4 plants fit perfectly – I have a plethora of this tiny wonders!
Rachel
Jodi says
I’m over here searching for recipes for my fairytale eggplants. They do grow well in containers – mine is doing wonderfully in what I call my “poor man’s topsyturvey” – a 5 gallon pail with holes drilled in it 🙂 My eggplant (and my little tomato) love it!
Toni Dash says
Perfect! I’ve done alot of container growing and there are perfect for them. I love these eggplant. Especially that you can slice and cook them without all the salting business!