VegetableEggplant
Long Ping Tung Eggplant
Long Ping Tung Eggplant is a Taiwanese heirloom that brings elegance and heat tolerance to your garden. These plants produce impressively long fruits, stretching 12 to 18 inches, with a slender 1.25-inch diameter and striking purple coloring. Reaching harvest in just 60 to 69 days, this annual grows 30 to 48 inches tall and thrives across hardiness zones 2 through 13 in full sun. What makes this variety truly remarkable is its sweet, tender flesh with no bitter aftertaste, a rarity among eggplants, combined with disease resistance and an exceptional ability to produce prolifically even in intense heat.
Photo © True Leaf Market
Growing Conditions
USDA Zone
2-13
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Soil
Well-drained, Fertile Loam; Rich Organic Matter
Growth Stats
48 in
Height
Spacing
18
Plant Profile
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Zones
2-13
Size
48in H x ?in W
Growth
—
Care
Moderate
Hover over chart points for details
Highlights
Long Ping Tung Eggplant produces fruits that are distinctly elegant: slender, purple, and dramatically long compared to most eggplant varieties you'll encounter. The plants shrug off heat that would stress other varieties, making them exceptional for hot-summer gardeners. Perhaps most notably, these eggplants deliver a genuinely sweet flavor with tender flesh and no bitterness whatsoever, a characteristic that sets them apart from many commercial varieties. The fact that they mature in 60 to 69 days means you're harvesting within two to three months of planting, and disease resistance means fewer headaches during the growing season.
Common Uses
This eggplant excels in stir-fries, where its long slender shape cuts into uniform pieces and cooks evenly. It's exceptional grilled or roasted, where the sweet flesh caramelizes beautifully. The tender texture and lack of bitterness make it outstanding in curries and braises, where it absorbs flavors readily without the harsh undertones that plague some eggplant varieties. Many cooks prefer it raw or lightly cooked to highlight its natural sweetness, a trait rarely found in eggplants grown in Western gardens.
Growing Timeline
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Care Instructions
Start Indoors
Start seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last expected spring frost in warm soil (70 to 80°F). Eggplants germinate slowly compared to other vegetables, so be patient and maintain consistent warmth and moisture until seedlings emerge.
Transplant Outdoors
Harden off seedlings over 7 to 10 days before transplanting outdoors. Move plants to the garden once nighttime temperatures consistently stay above 50°F and soil has warmed thoroughly. Spacing of 18 inches between plants allows each one room to reach its full 30 to 48-inch height while maintaining good air circulation.
Harvesting
Long Ping Tung Eggplants reach harvest readiness 60 to 69 days after transplanting. Pick fruits when they're 12 to 18 inches long and still bright purple in color; harvest at this stage ensures peak tenderness and sweet flavor before skin becomes dull or wrinkled. Cut the stem about 1 inch away from the fruit rather than pulling, which protects both the delicate fruit and the productive plant.
Growing Calendar
Enter your ZIP code to see a personalized growing calendar for this plant.
Companion Planting
Pests & Diseases
Ecology & Traits
Edible
Scientific Classification
Solanum melongena
Family
Solanaceae
Genus
solanum
Native Status
L48 (I)PR (I)
History & Origin
“Long Ping Tung Eggplant originates from Ping Tung, a region in Taiwan with a rich tradition of vegetable cultivation. This cultivar represents a lineage of eggplant breeding specifically adapted to tropical and subtropical climates, where heat and humidity are constants rather than challenges. Its journey to Western seed catalogs reflects the growing recognition of Asian heirloom vegetables and the value of regional crop varieties developed through generations of local growing knowledge.”