Are you up for a gardening challenge? Because today I'm going to show you
how to grow that most seasonal of crops - the Easter egg. Few people realize you can grow
this decadent fruit in the average garden, but with a little know-how it can be done.
Hi, I'm Ben Vanheems, editor of GrowVeg.com, and on this channel we share the best tips for growing
an easy and productive vegetable garden. Now who fancies some chocolate?
My journey to discovering how to grow organic Easter Eggs began just over a year ago
when I was browsing through the seed catalogs.
"Daddy, can we grow some Easter Eggs this year?"
"In theory, but I've heard they're incredibly tricky to grow."
"Oh please, I really want to grow Easter Eggs!"
"Okay, I'll see what I can do okay, but if we grow them you have to promise to keep it a complete secret -
because we're not supposed to grow them!"
That set me on a mission to discover the best way to grow the elusive Easter Egg, which
are the fruits of an incredibly rare variety of eggplant or aubergine. But first, a little history.
It was in 1684 that British explorer Sir Cuthbert Cadbury discovered a rather unusual specimen close
to his camp while on expedition to the highland region of Shangri-la. At first glance it appeared
to be a regular eggplant, but as the temperature plunged at this high altitude something remarkable happened.
Expecting the fruits to be destroyed by frost, Sir Cuthbert observed that they instead
developed a protective hard outer crust. He had stumbled upon what we now call the Easter Egg
or, to give it its scientific name, Solanum melangena subspecies chocolatis. Confectionary
lovers around the world rejoiced whilst Sir Cuthbert but received a knighthood for his efforts, as well
as a fellowship to the Royal Society of Explorers. At first, Easter Eggs were a luxury only available
to the upper classes. In Victorian times head gardeners of the large estates
grew them in sheltered walled gardens, developing techniques such as using forcing pots to exclude
light soon after fruit set in order to produce white chocolate eggs. Queen Victoria is said to
have employed a team of eight gardeners whose sole job was to nurture the royal Easter Eggs.
The plants were started off at Windsor Castle then transplanted to Balmoral in Scotland the
moment they reached maturity in order to simulate the sudden temperature drops of the Shangri-la highlands.
Some historians even suggest that the real motivation behind the building of the East
Coast mainline railway from London to Scotland was to speed the transport of this precious cargo.
Most people are unaware of the rich history of this incredible plant, but the clue is in the
name. Whereas I refer to this as an aubergine most places in the world will know this as an eggplant.
This fruit is from the regular eggplant that most gardeners will be familiar with
whereas the Easter Egg is from the chocolatis subspecies.
Because of the high value of the rare eggplant chocolatis subspecies, it's now extremely difficult
to get hold of the seed. In some regions it's even illegal to grow except under special licence,
while most new varieties are protected by patents. Large confectionary companies have
cornered the market, producing Easter Eggs in vast warehouses at undisclosed locations
using genetically modified seed and precisely controlled environments. Always up for a challenge,
I started to make inquiries about whether any of the original heirloom seed still exists.
It can be grown in the UK - well, technically - but it's very taboo to do so and generally it's frowned upon.
But I finally managed to procure some of the very rare seeds through an underground botanical
society who as you can appreciate offered the seed on the condition they remain anonymous
And here they are! At first glance they look like the seeds of the regular eggplant, but look closely
and you'll notice the spots at the center of them, which indicates that these are indeed the seeds of
the rare chocolatis subspecies. I've already got a pot filled with peat-free organic potting mix
and we're going to carefully sow these one at a time before covering them over with a thin layer
of vermiculite and watering. To help them germinate I'm going to cover them with clear plastic
and move them to a warm windowsill. Once up, the seedlings are grown on much like regular eggplants
transplanting them into their own pots and then, once all chance of frost has passed,
planting them outside into a sunny, sheltered position. You can now use our garden planner to add
Easter Eggs to your garden plan. Double-click to select the rare chocolatis subspecies and drop it
into position. Once added, switch to the Plant List to view the planting dates. You can see that while
most plants have a number of weeks when they can be sown and planted, eggplant chocolatis is unique
in that it must be sown in early April, and ideally on the first of the month. Keep the plants well
watered in hot weather and add an extra mulch of high quality compost as the first flowers appear.
Then feed twice a month with the regular tomato fertilizer added to the watering can. The biggest
challenge is to ensure a sufficient temperature drop once the fruits have reached full size.
It's a tricky one but by growing several plants you can increase the chances of at least one plant
being at the right stage of maturity at just the right time. You're looking for a temperature
drop of around 25 degrees Fahrenheit or 14 degrees Celsius within a period of just 12
hours, and with the low point dipping just below freezing. The plants can be overwintered in much
the same way as peppers, and I was hoping to show you a few of the ones I sowed last year.
They grew really well, the temperatures dropped as expected, and I was in line for
a really bumper crop to enjoy this Easter. But then this happened. Seemingly overnight,
the fruits simply disappeared! Eggplants don't suffer from many pests, but it seems rabbits
can't get enough of this particular fruit and will do whatever it takes to get their paws on them.
Yeah, I'm almost certain they got in here . You can see this incredibly fluffy hair that they've left
behind, and that leads me to conclude it's almost certainly the Easter bunny species of rabbit.
All is not lost however. A friend has also been growing Easter Eggs and, unlike me,
she took the precaution of installing chicken wire netting, which she dug into the ground around
the plants to prevent rabbits from burrowing in from underneath. She sent me some of the
mature fruits which arrived yesterday, so let's take a look at how to prepare them for storage.
You can see how the fruits have developed their characteristic thick outer shell. It will have
hardened like this within about a week of harvesting and it's now ready to process.
To preserve it we'll first need to open it out to remove the soft pulp and any seeds. The best way to
do this is with a sharp knife that's been heated up in boiling water for a minute or so. Remove the
knife from the water, wipe dry, then carefully slice round the edges like this before cutting in half.
The inside can then be removed and the two halves left to dry. Once opened and de-pulped, the fresh
Easter Eggs can be wrapped in foil then stored in a cool dry cupboard, where they should keep well
for several weeks. There's nothing quite like the taste of a fresh, organically grown Easter Egg.
Yes, sourcing the seeds is difficult, and ensuring that steep temperature drop can sometimes be
tricky, but if you're up to the challenge it's the ultimate homegrown indulgence. If you've grown
them before - and well done you - why not share your tips in the comments section below? And
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