Local organic Rosa Bianca eggplant from Halal Pastures Farm, an Italian heirloom variety easily recognized by its rounded shape and rosy fuchsia and white streaked skin. Rosa Bianca traces back to Sicily, likely as far as the 1600s, and was brought to the United States by Italian immigrants who prized it for a creamy, mild flesh with almost none of the bitterness found in other eggplant varieties. Like tomatoes and potatoes, eggplant belongs to the nightshade family, and though treated as a vegetable in the kitchen, it's botanically a fruit. The dense, tender flesh holds its shape well, making it a natural choice for roasting, grilling, or baking whole with cheese and herbs, and it's the classic eggplant for a traditional eggplant parmigiana. It also works well sliced into caponata or layered into ratatouille.
Rock Tavern, NY
Halal Pastures is a certified organic and halal farm based in Upstate NY, founded by husband-and-wife team Samer and Diane Saleh. They are dedicated to providing exceptional tasting organic vegetables and halal meats and meat products. Over a decade ago, a single article about Egypt rejecting genetically modified corn sparked their journey. At the time, the only food label they paid attention to was “halal”, but that moment led them to question how food is grown and what truly makes it pure.
Determined to feed their family food that was not only halal but tayyab (pure), the Salehs began growing it themselves. What started as a personal mission soon grew into Halal Pastures, a farm rooted in the values of health, ethics, and transparency.
Today, Halal Pastures cultivates thousands of vegetable varieties using regenerative practices that foster biodiversity and enrich the soil. The farm never uses chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or genetically modified seeds. Instead, they focus on nourishing the land and growing clean, flavorful produce that reflects the care behind every step of the process.
With a deep commitment to transparency and traceability, the Salehs remain hands-on in every part of the farm’s operations.