Taste Review of the Blava Fig Breba - 7/20/18

My Blava fig was originally purchased from Dan Foster in June 2017. He is a well respected fig collector with many great varieties.

 I had no idea that Blavas had brebas, so I was excited to see fruit on this young tree. Picked 7/20/18

Unfortunately, there was a only 1 fig on this entire tree. Judging by the droopiness of the fig on the branch I picked it. You never know when the bird will get to them or hungry relatives who like to tour your yard.

The color of the fig was a deep black cherry. It was quite pretty.

For a breba, it was quite small. only 10.7grams.

And when I cut it open it looked very dry on the inside. So my initial reaction was that it was going to be a bad tasting fig.

I was surprised however to find that it had such a strong distinct and intense dark cherry flavor. I've never tasted a fig that tasted so much like cherries. It was somewhat acidic in the best way. I enjoyed every small bite of it. Now had it been juicier this little fig would have scored a bit higher but I have high hopes for it next yr.

Blava Fig (7/20/18) 2yr old plant

Breba

Taste: 7

Sweetness: 6

Size: 2 (10.7 grams)

Productivity: .5

Total =  15

Fig Tasting: De La Gloria & Preto

Fig Tasting: De La Gloria & Preto

I love  this time of year. The end of September is my birthday and it's also when all the tasty figs ripen. Today I picked the Preto and De La Gloria fig main crop. Two figs that I have not tasted yet until this year.

De La Gloria Left  - Preto Right

De La Gloria Crop (9/20/17) 6Mo old plant

Taste:  5

Sweetness: 4

Size:  4 (39 grams)

Productivity:  5

Total =  18 too young of a plant to truly review

I actually bought this as a cutting from Harvey in march of this year. So for it to produce ripe fruit in 5 months from the time of rooting is quite impressive. It's also quite a heavy producer for such a young plant. 

Appearance wise, it is quite beautiful! Beautiful color and great bell shape.  The flavor though did not develop very much. I blame this on the greenhouse. I brought it into the greenhouse where there are lot of other ripening figs and probably rotting plant matter which release a lot of ethylene gas. 

The fig itself was a little bland and didn't exhibit the strawberry jamminess that I had hoped. I do have high hopes for this variety next year though. 

Preto Main Crop (9/20/17) 3yr old plant

Taste:  9

Sweetness: 8

Size:  5  (41grams)

Productivity: 4

Total =  26

The Preto has been compared to the Black Madeira by many. I tend to agree. They have similar ripening times, productive and a similar taste. I still think Black Madeira is the king of figs though. There's something about it that makes it stand out from the rest. 

 The Preto though is a close 2nd in terms of appearance and taste to the Black Madeira. I'd like to call it the "Little Brother" of the Black Madeira. Sorta like Casey Affleck.

Seriously though, it's a great fig with great strawberry jam flavor and lots of richness. If you like BMs you will also like Preto.

Watch the Video on Preto and De La Gloria figs below.