More Fig Tasting! Olympian, Gene's Vashon, LSU O'Rourke, & Desert King

July is a great time of year for fig lovers! This is when the beginning of fig ripening season begins and it could go well into October depending on your varieties.

Yesterday was a treat. I got to taste 4 different varieties. Olympian, Gene's Vashon, LSU O'rourke, and Desert King


Olympian:
This fig came off of a 3ft tree and was recently placed in ground. It wasn't as juicy as I like but the flavor may improve with age. Overall it's a very productive tree for it's size with such gorgeous looking fruit.

Gene's Vashon:
The Vashon Violet was the best tasting out of this bunch that I had today. The tree is much more mature and has been in ground for about a decade. It was moist and juicy and the flavors were amazing. Very silky and rich. Melony tones.

 

LSU O'Rourke:
Unfortunately, this fig was knocked off too early by my young gardener helper and didn't get a chance to fully develop it's flavor. What I did taste has great promise though. A nice bit of acid and berry tones. You can taste the greenness of it still though. I love the color of and ribbing on this fig. Until next year young fig.

 

Desert King:
One of my favorites here in the Northwest. Never fails to impress me how good it is. Very refreshing and flavorful. And filling too. One 90gram fig can satisfy your hunger.

Desert King: Breba
Taste: 9.5
Size: 10
Productivity: 10
Total = 29.5

Genes Vashon: Breba
Taste: 8.7
Size: 5
Productivity: 7
Total = 21.7

Olympian: Breba
Taste: 6.5
Size: 4
Productivity: 5
Total =15.5

LSU O'Rourke Breba
Taste: 4.5 (not fully ripened)
Size: 2.7
Productivity: 1
Total = 8.2

The Ultimate Fig Breba List

Here in the Pacfic Northwest Zone 7B. Our short season means not all figs will ripen a main crop (outside of a greenhouse). Which means that we have to focus on figs that have brebas, which is why the Desert King has been so important as a staple here.

What is a Breba?
a fig of the first crop ripening on the old wood 

The differences between Breba and Main crops can look and taste like two very different figs. Brebas are generally larger, sometimes more elongated, more watery from the spring rains and not as sweet as main crops.

However with San Pedro type figs like the Desert King the main crop is not as good as the Brebas since the main crop requires pollination to mature.

Take for example the Gene's Vashon on the left is the Breba and the right is the main crop.

 The Ultimate Breba List!

Abebereira	Galbun	Melanzana	Sequoia
Aldos Palermo	Genovese Nero	Mission	Sicilia Bifara
Arab Market	Giant Amber	Monstrueuse	Sicilian Black
Atreano	golden Celeste	Montecillo	Sicilian Red
Barnisotte	Giant Goliath	Naples White	Sierra
Bayernfeige Violetta	Ginos Black	Nardine	Smith
Bifara	Gulbun	Nardi Black	Stella Cordi
Binelo	Grise Olivette	Nazarti	Stanford
Black Greek	Grise de Saint Jean	Native d Argentile	St Jean
Black Genoa	Granthams Royal	Negronne	Strawberry Verte
Black Madeira	BM-3	Negretta	Sultane
Black Bethlehem	Hardy Chicago	Norman's Yellow	T-30E
black weeping	Hollier	NSA No1 Green	Ta Cenc
Blue Celeste	Hunt	Nuhurskii	Takoma Violet
Brogiotto Nero	Igo	Olympian	Texas Everbearing
Brooklyn White	Improved Celeste	Orphan	Trojano
Bronze Paradiso	Italian Black	Panache	Tuquoise
Brown Turkey	Italian Honey	Pan E Vino Dark	Unknown Pastilerre
Brunswick / Magnolia	Italian Everbearing	Pan E Vino White	UCR 276-14
Byadi	Italian Purple	Pellegrino	UCR 291
Calabrese Long	Johannes	Peter's Strawberry	Valle Negra
Capelas	K6-5	Persian White	Vasilika Sika
Cantanzaro	Kadota	Perisan Black	Vashon Violet Gene's
Castanhal	Kathleens Black	Pewter's Honey	Very Dark Grk
Chris' Purple	Kennedy	Petite Negri	Vincenzo
Columbaro Nero	King	Petite Aubique	Violet de Bordeaux EL
Col De Dame Noir	Lampeira	Pingo De Mel	Vista
Conadria	Latarulla	Portland	Votata
Dalmatie	Lebanese White	Qaalat Al Madiq	Walker
Danny's Delite	Lemon	Qudssaya	White Adriatic
Dark Greek	Little Red	Figo Preto	White Greek
Dark Portuguese	Lisa RN	Rattlesnake Is	White Kadota
Dark Sultane	Longue Daout	Red Lebanese	White King
Dauphine	Lyndhurst White	Ronde De Bordeaux	White Texas Everbearing
De La Reina	LSU Gold	Royal Mediterranean	Yellow Neches
De Leon	LSU Champagne	Ruby	Zingarella
Desert King	Madeleine d Deux	Salerno	Zucchuni
English Brown Turkey	Malta black	Sals Corleone	135-4s
Enrico	Maltese Falcon	Salem Dark	184-15
Excel	Marlow	Santa Cruz Dark	342-1
Filicciano Bianco	Marseilles White	Santa Cruz White	135-155
Fiorone d Ruvo	Marrabout	Santa Margherita
Falls Gold	Mavra Sika	Scotts Black
Flanders	Mega Celeste
Florea

Fig of the Week. #11 Gene's Vashon

Fig of the Week. Gene's Vashon (Not to be confused with the Vashon Violet that's a brunswick)

Hardiness: Grows Outdoors unprotected in Seattle Zone 7B
Type: Bifere
Fruit Ripens: July and Late September here
Fruit Color: Maroon yellow with a dark red and amber interior
Taste: Very figgy, sweet with nice seed crunch
Fruit Weight: 50grams
Leaf Structure: 3 main lobes and cankles
Note: Slow to root often takes month to get good roots


So the name Gene's Vashon is very local to the Seattle Area. It is quiet little island in the Puget sound. I believe Clover Farms grows this fig there. However based on the leaves and the look of the fruit it reminds a lot of the English brown turkey. It could be a close cousin.

This has got be one of the coolest looking figs I've encountered. The elongated yellow neck and the robust body of the fig reminds me very much of a Longue D'auot, but it is clearly not. I have a couple of LDA's and none of the fruit have ripened on it.

I'm ecstatic that it grows outdoors here in Seattle without any protection whatsoever. The fruit ripens in Mid July and thru the end of August. It appears to be a bifere, with only one 2 crops. The man crop if given enough time should ripen in Oct.

The taste is very delicious. BIG and Super rich with a figgy taste that is not overly sweet like some of the honey figs. The seeds give it a nice crunch as you eat it. I really enjoy eating this fig.

A must have for any fig collector. It should be in your top 5 for the shape and appearance alone. It's also very productive and full of figs on the mother tree. I'll probably end up growing at least 5 of these trees in my garden in the next yr.

Breba Crop:

7/31/15 More ripe figs harvested

Another week of unusually hot weather in Seattle has created the perfect ripening conditions for figs here in the PNW. 90 degrees for most of the week.

I've been told that Peter's Honey will not ripen here but so far I've picked 4 super sweet little guys from the tree in the last couple of days.

I also have a newly discovery fig. Initially I thought it was Brunswick because of the elongated fruit, but after cutting into it and comparing the leaves, fruit shape and color, I'm pretty sure it is a Violetta.

The taste has the perfect amount of sweetness, quite figgy and a nice crunch to the seeds. It's not overly watery like a ripe desert king.

It's definitely not as large as the brunswick. the breba and the main crop appear to both have the elongated fruit.