the price of eggplant

[azveggieguy]

Is it just my corner of the country (northern Arizona) or has eggplant gotten ridiculously expensive in the past month? Used to be able to buy them for $1.50, sometimes on sale for $1.00, now they're $3.50 - if the store has them at all. I'd say it's a seasonal thing except I buy them year-round and don't remember them ever being this expensive. Did a web search but couldn't find any news of crop failure. This is putting a serious crimp in my meal rotation!

[Antithesisofpop]

The restaurant where I work in KS purchased some this week from our regular produce supplier - $4.00 each. We make an eggplant tapenade for one of the sandwiches, and at those prices the sandwich may be reformulated.

[scubadoo97]

Try Indian or Asian markets. I just picked up Italian eggplants for $1.99/lb and they had the long thin Japanese eggplant for $1.50/lb. The small round Indian ones were $2.50/lb. Much higher and less selection at the megamart.

[tatamagouche]

Duh, that makes sense. Should've thought of it. Thanks!

[njscubaguy]

In New Jersey the price is $3.99 per POUND....and thats if you can even find it!!!

[tatamagouche]

Aha, I came on board specifically to search for this. Not only did it triple around markets here in Denver, but now it's disappeared altogether.

When can we expect to see improvement in what I agree with azveggieguy is a personal crisis!

[chefj]

Should be plenty when they come into season. Till then the supplies will be tight for another month or 2 at least.

[tatamagouche]

Oof. These'll be some bleak weeks.

[luckyfatima]

We (in Central Texas) got a notice in the mail from Sprouts that the single day of ice and the inch of snow we had destroyed their suppliers' crops of several vegetables, including eggplant. What a sad thing.

[Jen76]

Yup, the big freeze we got down here in the lower half of AZ - but especially in Yuma - affected a lot of the crops that grow here. I lost my own eggplants in my garden boxes the night it got into the low 20s here in Phx.

[junescook]

We live in Ct. This week there is a sign in our local Stop & Shops apologizing for the high price of eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini and other warm weather crops. The rise in price was due, to my recollection, to wet weather on the west coast, and they were hoping that the prices would be back down in three weeks or so/

[greygarious]

It would help if you could translate that into price per pound.

[chefj]

I do not really know how to. The cases are 48 heads and are selling for 58+$

[greygarious]

The question was addressed to the OP.

[chefj]

ooops

[Jen76]

I don't know about N. AZ, but here in Phx, the large purple eggplants are often sold on a per unit basis. Hard to translate that into per pound pricing when sometimes they are small and sometimes they are huge.

[KaimukiMan]

One of the big adjustments in moving to Hawaii was changing from price per piece for fruit and vegetables to price per pound. Since a head of lettuce can vary a lot in weight due to water content, and one eggplant or onion can be much larger than others, it seems strange to me now that anyplace sells by the unit. On the other hand, it costs about the same to cultivate each piece of fruit regardless of the end size.

[chefj]

The Produce company that I use said that there have been some serious frosts in the south west and Mexican growing areas.
It has really driven prices up on: Romain, Iceberg, Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplants and most other summer type vegetables.
The Price of Romain hearts increased 3 fold