This was a fantastic tasting Breba. So refreshing. Like fresh strawberries without the acidity. I also love the fact that is seem to be quite productive and wants to push out fruit growth with determination.
My wife wondered why our electric bill was $100/mo higher. I said hmm weird must be colder than usual this winter and the heater must be working harder. ;)
The plant was brought in in Dec and brought out in March. So about $300 in electricity later, one of the Brebas have ripened.
Here on 4/29/19. One of the brebas have ripened. It is a far cry from what was in the photo though.
The skin was quite leathery. Perhaps due to the move from a grow tent to full sun. It was also much smaller than advertised. Probably no more than 40grams.
Here you can see some leaf burn from grow tent to full sun.
Overall I was slightly indifferent about the fig, since it wasn't sun ripened. the skin was inedible and the texture was a bit dry. The flavor was very figgy and concentrated like jam though. Nolan seemed to like it. And it was nice to eat a fig in April.
The plus is that it does seem like a productive variety and time will tell if the other figs on the tree will reveal it's true standard.
It has been an incredible year of figs for me. I've had more varieties ripened than ever before. And I'm so happy to have been able to share these figs with local growers and folks who have followed my blog world wide. The most important part about collecting figs is the taste for me. The other part is collecting figs that are the top performers for my climate in various flavor, size, color, and shape categories. I do not want to collect 50 black berry flavored varieties. It's too redundant and frankly a waste of time, money and resources.
The Golden Riverside fig for me has just been an incredible performer. It's large, productive, reliable and has outstanding flavor and sweetness. Seriously why collect figs that are expensive but do not fruit for you? At the end of the day it's about being able to grow the best tasting figs that perform for your climate. The Golden Riverside hands down out performs every fig in my collection of 350 varieties. It also ranked #1 out of 26 different figs from a private tasting I had this year.
The flavor is rich thick juicy honey. And tastes like nectar to the gods. The syconium has a nice bite to it as well, like biting into a semi firm pluot without the acidity. The size affords you the ability to eat it more like a large peach than a fig. And the fact that it ripens outside in September makes it a perfect main crop fig for short seasons.
The first time I laid eyes on the Black Zadar online. I had a feeling this was going to be a special fig. Being in the PNW I was led to believe that you could only grow figs for Brebas and not the main crop. We'll I'm glad that I was proven wrong. The Black Zadar is an extremely productive tree that produces large figs near 100grams and ripened 95% of every fig that grew on it including Brebas and Main crop. I couldn't even eat it all. So I left many fall off the tree.
The flavor of the Black Zadar is very unique.
The taste of a perfectly ripened Black Zadar is a mixture of melons, strawberry, and honey. There are also subtle hints of black licorice from the skin. Very subtle and maybe masked by the meatiness and sweetness of the fig. Both the brebas and the main crop literally just melt in your mouth.
This fig also grows incredibly fast. The only con would be that the skin cracks. But some folks may like that.
If you told me that I had to keep only 5 figs in my collection. Without hesitation I would grab my Vincenzo to go with me. Don't get me wrong, I love my Black Madeira but I would grab this 1st being that I have not seen anyone selling it anywhere else. Now I know that some say this fig is like aldo, palermo or even Sals Corleone but I have all of the other figs and none of them have produce for me the way the Vincenzo does. It would be easy for me to replace a black madeira but next to impossible for me to replace my Vincenzo. The only knock on it is it's lack of productivity.
I love this fig because of how different the Brebas are compared to the Main Crop. However both would make my top 10 in terms of flavor. The brebas are melt in your mouth honey melon figs. And the Main crop is mix of Honey and jam. Both are extremely good figs. EXTREMELY GOOD FIGS!
The Col De Dame Noir was a surprise this year. I was about to give up on Col De Dames in general fearing that they were too late for the Seattle Season. However I managed to ripen mine in October respectably, I did have it ripen in the greenhouse however.
Boy was I glad to have stuck with it. The Col De Dame Noir has such an incredible punch of berry jam flavors. Very rich and raspberry jam like. The sweetness was perfect. For me a perfectly sweet fig is 8.5. It was decent productivity and boy is it eye catching. The pulp is just this beautiful blood red. It actually inspired me to pull out the big camera to take some professional photos.
The only con on this was that it ripened completely in the greenhouse.
The White Madeira is just plain and simple the Gold standard of Green figs with a red pulp. And there are tons of varieties out there that fit into that category. Its flavor is like raspberry jam. That hint of acidity is what makes this fig stand apart from all berry types. It's very sweet and rich. The flavors will linger on your tongue from it's thick juicy pulp. My tree is only a couple yrs old and I can't wait to see how well it does when it gets larger.
#6 JFE Black Madeira
1 Crop
Taste: 9.5
Sweetness: 9
Size: 3 (27.1 grams)
Productivity: ?
Total =
I have a JFE Black Madeira but mine did not ripened this year. Ram from Kirkland did manage to ripen his near the Thanksgiving time frame. It was a very good tasting fig regardless of the lack of heat units in November. The flavor is like strawberry jam with hints of acidity and raspberry.
This would have ranked higher if it ripens earlier here. Rankings are based on a variety of factors not just taste. It's about how well they do here in Seattle, Productivity and reliability.
During our fig tasting event from 2018, the Takoma Violet fig was top 3 only after Golden Riverside and Black Zadar. It's quite comparable to the Col De Dame Blanc, only it ripens weeks sooner than it. This is a berry type that has another layer of flavor and punch that makes it stand out. It could be a subtle hint of acidity but also how bright and fresh each bite of this fig tastes in your mouth.
This is a very good fig. I will have to let it ripen out doors next year.
The i258 ranks right up there pretty close to the Black Madeira in my opinion. It's like the little brother to the Black Madeira. It would have ranked higher if it ripened earlier here in Seattle. The other con was that I had half of them split on me. Ripening in October means ripening in very heavy rains.
Other than that. The one fig that I managed to ripen was very good. Rich strawberry jam that was very flavorful. Very much like a Black Madeira.
If you are a fan of berry types like Ronde De Bordeaux the Socorro Black fig will be ranked high on your scale. The texture was great, nice medium syconium with a gelatinous jammy pulp. I love that it was very productive and ripened outside of the greenhouse. I had huge clusters on every branch.
It also had a nice tight eye that will be ideal for humid climates or ones with lots of pests. The Socorro Black is a very well rounded fig. Great taste combined with high productivity medium size and almost the perfect amount of sweetness. Reminds me a lot of the Smith fig.
The only con was that it was not consistent. There were some figs on the same tree that were amazing and others that seem half aborted.
What I like about the Kathleen's Black had is that it has hints of caramel flavor to it. The main flavor is more like a lighter more subtle berry flavored fig. The fruit was also very big this yr and it was semi productive. Honestly to the untrained pallet many may not be able to tell the slight differences between all the various berry types, it's only when you get to taste them all side by side that begin to stand out from others. The Kathleen's black will not disappoint.
My friend Slavi, said that the Lampeira Preta was one of the best breba figs around. I think he maybe right. This is the first year that it has fruited for me and it did not disappoint. The flavor of this fig is like Caramel Strawberry. Yes I said Strawberry caramel! Good sweetness and unique flavors that are so good that it makes me sad that this year, I was only able to get 2 figs from it.
In my mind this fig would've score higher at the fig tasting event if there was enough of it to go around at my fig tasting event. It's hard to cut up 1 fig between a dozen people.
I like this fig because of it sweetness and richness. A sugar fig if you had to label it. It is doesn't win any awards for looks but it is a sweet fig that is rich and coats the tongue in honey so it is sneaking on to this top 10 list.
Cons: not a pretty fig and not very productive
Some Notes:
* I wish I Smith to review but they did not wake them up early enough to get ripe figs this yr. (two years in a row)
** To me Black Madeira, Preto, Genovese Nero and Smith are very very good figs but they did not make it on this list because none ripened for me. I did not make the extra effort to wake them up earlier or put them into a heated greenhouse. The figs on the list above are on there for a combination of reasons. They are tasty 1st and reliable without much need of additional effort to ripen them in my zone 8b.
Noire De Barbentane Fig Tasting 2018
Picked on Halloween 10/31/18
It's been a long time waiting for this fig to give me ripe edible figs. Unfortunately It looks like I'll have to continue to wait.
By all means this is certainly a beautiful fig. Great skin color, with its bluish black hues and an interior that is very reminiscent of a black madeira.
Such a beautiful fig. The only negative is how late it is. Most of October has been cold and rainy. So it hasn't had the necessary sun and heat to help this fig get super sweet.
I will have to wake this one up early next year. It just has so much potential to be a great fig. However my score for this fig is a little skewed because of the late season, cold weather ripeness.
It has an MVSB type of flavor to it. But the sweetness was quite low.
Noire de Barbentane (10/31/18) Not properly ripened.
Tasting the Pellegrino Fig 2018
Picked 10/21/18
2 Crops
There are 2 Pellegrinos out there. Mario has one that is more reminiscent of the Longue D'Aout and this one from Vinny that I believe is closer to the Nordland variety.
I moved this fig into the greenhouse to help it ripen. It worked and it gave me 2 very delicious large figs.
110 Grams
This fig can probably top out it's brebas at over 200 grams. I may grow this in ground just to see it's potential. The brebas are the size of footballs.
Ram in Kirkland says that his Nordlands get very large as well, my hunch is the two varieties are quite similar if not the same fig. The more varieties I add to the collection the more I think it is important to have a reference guide of fig varietal synonyms.
In the best sense of the word the flavor of the Pellegrino has a classic figgy flavor. Sightly berried tone but with a strong accent of dried figs, the kind you would find in the stores.
I actually enjoyed this fig. It was big, juicy, and sweet.
This fig came to me as Black Madeira, by all accounts it looks exactly like it from the exterior. It's not until I cut into it that you see that it clearly is not. The interior of the this figs is amber yellow.
The leaves are single lobed with a little some showing some thumbs on each side.
Unfortunately it has been raining a lot lately and the skin has crackled quite a bit on this fig.
If you look closely you can see a drip of honey from this fig.
This is a bit of honey on my pinky when I picked it.
61.9 grams is a very respectable size.
So from what I have read Sao Luis is one of 29 figs Ira Condit reported on from Portugal that was actually very good. When it's pollinated the pulp turns pinkish, when it is not pollinated it stays this yellow amber color.
This fig has not disappointed. Its a honey fig that has a nice firm syconium texture and good taste. I'll keep it around just for the beauty of it in comparison to the Back Madeira. For the most part it is considered late here in Seattle. Definitely not an in ground candidate.
