Fig Tasting: Late October Figs Rob's Genovese Nero, Celeste & Florea
Celeste, Rob's Genovese Nero, & Florea
Figure by this time of year the cold weather is gonna make the figs taste like crap but I couldn't resist and picked a few anyways. These score are not indicative of the true potential of these figs. If they had ripened with more sun and heat I'm sure they would receive a much better score.
So really the only purpose of these scores is to show why it may not be worth it to grow really late figs here in the PNW.
These 3 are an exception though. RGN has a Breba crop, Celeste ripens in late Sept. & Florea has a very long ripening time frame all the way into Oct.
Rob's Genovese Nero Main Crop (10/01/17) 3yr old plant
Sunlitec 90LED Sensor Solar Power Light review. I love this little LED light I've got it installed around my patio area and also in my greenhouse. Figure others may find it useful too. Check out my review on it.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Santa Cruz Adventure. Golden Riverside Fig.
I love California, the weather is nicer and the food is oh so good! It's also the ideal environment to grow figs. It's also home to alot of good eats!
While in California, my brother and I perused good ole Craigslist and found someone selling an unfamiliar variety which he called the Golden Riverside Fig. He lives in Santa Cruz, which gave us a fun excuse to make the drive there. He's grown it in his family since 1920s and it's the only fig he grows. He's since moved so we have no way of contacting him now.
We are all not 100% sure it's an actual Golden Riverside since he came up with the name after doing a Google Search and found that the Golden Riverside was the closest a fig that looks similar to his.
The Golden Riverside is a rather large fig and just happened to be ripening in October. The fruit is a golden color and the interior amber. Similar to an Italian honey but just much bigger but not as sweet. Perhaps with another week or so these figs would be dripping with honey. But we did not have the luxury of staying that long.
We met Robert the owner of the fig. He was extremely pleasant to talk to and even gave a us a handful of semi ripened figs to taste.
It's a good fig and the ones he gave us was not too sweet probably picked too prematurely. The sheer size though, should make it a fun one to grow. We bought 3 plants. One for me and the others for Vince and our other brother who lives in San Jose.
This Jolly Tiger a was sold to me as a "Reverted Jolly Tiger" a couple years ago. This was before I learned that there is no such thing as a reverted JT. Well the tree never gained back it's variegation
Regardless, this year it fruited and I was a little excited to see how it would taste.
Having a fig critter around I was careful to bring this one into the green house with the doors closed. I checked on it the other day and noticed that the fig was missing. My initial thought was that damn it! I was hit by the fig critter again!
Well it never ripened and dropped. It sort of looks like a male carpifig. There certainly aren't any wasps here in Seattle. Well if anyone from California wants this fig. Please let me. You can have it =).
It's been a long summer. With a full time career and my own business, two kids, 2 blogs (this one and my photography one), a full time garden, youtube channel, landlord and countless forums, I need vacation. It's not that I'm lazy but where I can save time I'll do it.
So I thought about it, with so many plants who's gonna water my garden. The video below shows a quick and cheap way to keep things watered for a few days.
I also did a followup on my simple air layer technique.
+ Extra footage on the Tree of Life at Kalaloch Beach in Washington State.
As the Summer Season is wrapping up, these are my top figs from 2017. I came about this list in terms of taste, productivity and reliability.
I did not simply list the figs with the highest score. Taste scores ranked heavily into my list but I also factored in hardiness, productivity and reliability.
Four Categories to judge for: Taste/Flavor, Sweetness, Size, Productivity
10 is Highest and 1 is the lowest.
Productivity:
Productivity will be calculated by how many figs divided by how many branches. So the result will be a number that shows the average amount of figs per branch.
Example: .5 = 1 fig for ever 2 branches
1 = 1 fig per branch
2 = 2 figs per branch Taste/Flavor:
10 is Highest and 1 is the lowest.
Example:
10 = Black Madeira
1 = Wuhan Sweetness Level:
10 is Highest and 1 is the lowest. Example:
Peter's Honey would be a 9
White Kadota I had from 2 years ago would be a 2 - it was bland as water
(Click on the link to see the full review and video)
Black Madeira ranks #1 for me for many reasons. It's incredibly tasty, reliable, and so very productive. The ripe fruit is worth all of the effort and money.
There's a sweetness and complexity to the flavor of the Black Madeira that makes it a memorable experience to eat. That's probably why it's one of the most sought after varieties.
Now I have other "rare" varieties but they have never fruited for me. They may cost more money but why pay hundreds of dollars for a variety that doesn't bear any fruit? It's just an expensive decorative plant then.
A perfectly ripe *Golden Riverside is like a marriage of a Black Madeira and a Peter's Honey. It's sweet and flavorful. Syrupy but juicy at the same time. The richness hits you after you swallow and lingers on the pallet for a few more seconds. Add this to the fact that it's cold hardy & very productive, makes it a very very good fig to have.
This is another great breba fig that will have a home in my collection. It would score higher if it was more productive. There was only 1 on the tree this year.
I was surprised at how good this fig was. The sweetness and flavor was quite memorable. Perfectly sweet and very juicy! There was a nice bite to the skin but the interior was so delicate. It just melted in your mouth.
This fig was originally sent to me as a Calderwood Unknown but it has been ID'ed as LSU Tiger. Every time I ate a bite of this fig I was hit with this thought that "wow this fig is so sweet and fresh". Perfect amount of sweetness and strawberry jam flavor. Yet some how it stayed juicy. Each bite you would get this gush of juiciness.
The little brother of the Black Madeira. There's so many similarities that it's hard not to lump the two figs into the same category and conversation. This fig is extremely rich and perfectly sweet.
*Within this category is the Cravens craving, Bass's favorite, and maybe Calderona
This year I've secretly fallen in love with the Takoma Violet. This little guy grew roots in the greenhouse so I could not remove it to get full sun, but it was a blessing in disguise.
My greenhouse floor isn't covered yet so I got a ton of weeds and it was also built over a former raised bed garden which means there are a ton of nutrients in the soil. So the Takoma Violet essentially took advantage of the extra heat and nutrients and was incredibly productive. It produced fruit from September and is still pushing out ripe fruit until now mid Oct.
The flavor, juiciness, and texture is perfect. Add on how productive and reliable this fig is and it will become anyone's favorite! Such a good fig!
In term's of flavor it's not the best but the productivity & reliability of this fig propels it into my top 10 for this year. I was literally picking figs every couple days off of this young tree.
This fig is sweet! Above average in flavor. They are small and made perfect bite sized snacks every time I went out into the garden.
I can't wait to grow this into a larger tree. I'm sure it will be the most productive fig in the garden!
The Desert King is a staple here in the Pacific Northwest! A very productive and reliable tree that bears large tasty Green figs with a syrupy sweet interior. This is a favorite fig to everyone in my family.
Kathleen's Black (10/15/17) 3yr Old Plant
1 Crop
Taste: 8.5
Sweetness: 7
Size: 3 (22.8G)
Productivity: 1
Total = 19.5
How did the Kathleen's black sneak on to this list with a score under 20? Well, it's because out of all these figs it's the only one that has a uniquely Caramel/Strawberry flavor. Kinda Like Strawberry Jam Brulee. It was refreshing to eat a fig that was unique compared to all the strawberry jam types.
The sheer beauty of this Grantham's Royal Breba has qualified it for the last position on my top 10 list for 2017. These heart shaped beauties are so unique. I had no idea that this fig would exhibit stripes on it. Which I found quite beautiful. A large fig at 77 grams makes it a full meal. It's moderately sweet and has a more complex flavor compared to the DK, it's like the Desert King's cousin from West Asia.
Fig Tasting: Kathleen's Black, Wuhan & LSU Champagne + A Critter problem
All of these figs are new to me this year. I would've had a handful of others to taste this year but there's a critter in my yard that has developed a taste for my figs. And it's done a significant amount of damage.
Here's a list of the figs that it has eaten:
1. Black Madeira
2. Pellegrino
3. LSU Gold
4. Hmari
5. Florea
6. Black Spanish
7. Dan's Favorite
8. Flanders
9. Preto
10. Brandon Unk
11. Vista
12. King
All this time I've been thinking some of these trees just do not do well and are not fruiting. When in reality this critter has been making a meal out of my expensive figs.
I purchased this fig because my friend David Eden said it made the Chicago Hardy taste like pig fodder. I happen to like Chicago Hardy. So this fig must be amazing. Well it took a few yrs to finally get a ripe fruit. It's on the cusp of being a late fig. In my book anything that ripens in mid October and later can be considered late in Seattle. Our heat units are lower (between 38-60F), days are shorter, and the figs are closing in on dormancy.
It was worth the wait. I was expecting a black strawberry jammy fig. Which kinda describes hundreds of varieties figs out there. However this guy had a hint of caramel. I think it could've been sweeter too but it hasn't been hot enough to get it to optimal sweetness.
However the distinct caramel taste of this fig makes it a keeper. It's not the most productive fig but the flavor is unique which makes me like it even more.
LSU Champagne (10/15/17) 3yr Old Plant 1 Crop
Taste: 6.5
Sweetness: 5.5
Size: 2 (19.9G)
Productivity: 1
Total = 14
I'm on the fence about the LSU Champagne. It ranks very averagely for me. The flavor has a slight winey fermented taste to it, which is probably how it derived it's name. I'll keep it for another year but doubt if it's a variety I'll keep in the long run unless it changes it flavor profile drastically next year.
