Eggplants in the news

So as you may know there are no eggplants, and haven't been for a couple months. Well, there are some, but they are wicked expensive, and they are mostly from Holland. Here's a primer and an update on the situation, from about a week ago, from the Press Enterprise of Riverside, CA:

"This is the worst time of the year for something like this to happen. It is Lent and people who don't eat meat, eat eggplant as a substitute," observed Douglas Schaefer, president and owner of EJ Produce, a Phoenix-based supplier of fruits and vegetables to restaurants and retailers.

The disappearance of eggplant from many menus and retail shelves was caused by an early February freeze in Mexico, which is the largest supplier of the dark purple vegetable to the United States this time of year. The devastation in Mexico followed a winter freeze in Florida, which also lost much of its eggplant crop.

...

But soon scrimping on eggplant won't be necessary. That's because the shortage of the vegetable is temporary and will be alleviated when the California eggplant harvest begins a few weeks from now in the Coachella Valley.

While the Coachella Valley also was hit by winter frost this year, the freeze occurred early in the eggplant growing season so farmers had time to replant if necessary, said John Burton, a general manger with Peter Rabbit Farms in Coachella.