Tasting the BB Golden Riverside Fig 2018

BB Golden Riverside Fig
Picked 9/19/18
1 crop

Previous year's post.
2015 
2016
2017


Oh my beloved Golden Riverside. I've had her for about 3yrs and this year is the best I've seen from it. The tree shows a ton of productivity this year and the fruit is larger than ever. It's out growing its pot and I may just plant it in ground this year.

I've had a lot of requests for cuttings from this tree. It's just one tree so sorry folks there isn't much to go around.

The Golden Riverside is one crop fig. That ripens in September here.

On a day with 8 other main crop varieties and a couple not shown on camera. The Golden Riverside has stood out as still the Queen of main crop figs for me.

Mislabelled Black Madeira, Socorro Black, Golden Riverside, Vincenzo Main, Natalina Main

I really do enjoy this fig. There's so many pluses about it. It's produces huge fruit, productive, tasty and sweet. It's rare to get that kind of combo in fig. 

This year the flavors are honey like with great juiciness. I love that the juiciness are more like honey water than thick molasses. The sweetness is right where I like my figs to be. The syconium has a nice bite to it as well. Like biting into a firm pluot without the acidity. 

I took this fig to work and let some coworkers try it, one person said they are have a figasm as they were eating LOL.

Ben's Golden Riverside (9/19/18)

Main

Taste: 10

Sweetness: 8.5

Size: 16 (151 grams)

Productivity: 6

Total = 40.5

Fig Tasting: The *Golden Riverside Fig

*Golden Riverside Main Crop (9/20/17) 3yr old plant

Taste: 9.5

Sweetness: 8.5  

Size: 7 (60G)

Productivity: 7 

Total = 32

My Brother and I have been growing This *Golden Riverside Fig for about 3yrs. The first year we gave it greenhouse protection. I've brought it indoors each year but screwed up and didn't take it out of the garage in time.  My brother however, left his outdoors through a relatively cold winter.  Cold enough that it killed all the outdoor birch trees in the neighborhood.  It also killed off all of the fig trees he bought from raintree. (Excel, flanders, and Texas Blue Giant)

However this tree did not seem to mind it at all and it was even more productive than all the previous years. Just look at all that fruit!

So many of us get caught up in Collecting as many varieties as possible that we forget to just buy varieties that just plain taste good. This is one of those figs that have all the qualities of a must have fig. 

It's tasty, cold hardy, productive, large, reliable, and unique looking. 

In my mind this tree may not be a Golden Riverside. The person we bought it from has had it in the family since 1920 and he doesn't know it's original name. He went online to Google the closest looking fig and found the Golden Riverside and started calling it that. 

By most accts the Actually Golden Riverside is quite insipid. 

This fig is by far one of the best Figs in our collection. Surpassed only by the Black Madeira. 

The best tasting fig of 2016 for me was...

It was a tie.

Golden Riverside* and Black Madeira were truly spectacular!

Golden Riverside*

Last year in 2015 it was somewhat watery due to all the rain we get here in Seattle. But this year when the fruit had time to grow in my brothers greenhouse and a full season to ripen it became one of the best tasting figs in my garden.

The taste was reminiscent of a Black Madeira fig in terms of texture, bite and richness but with a drip of honey. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water! Black Madeira is marginally better in terms of taste but the Golden Riverside wins in terms of being such a flavorful large fig with great productivity.

Golden Riverside
Taste: 10
Size: 9
Productivity: 8
Total = 27

Black Madeira

I'm so happy that my fascination with Black Madeiras have lived up to the hype. It is truly an amazing fig in terms of taste richness and bite. When I say bite I mean that the fruit stays firm but not soggy or falls apart while keeping all of it's flavor.

Both figs require a long season but if you have a greenhouse these two are worth the extra effort to keep.

Black Madeira Main
Taste: 11
Size: 6
Productivity: 4
Total = 21

See my taste rankings here.

* I put an asterisk next to the Golden Riverside because the gentleman I bought the tree from wasn't really sure of the name. It's the only variety he's grown for decades and named it Golden Riverside after doing some googling. So there's a small chance it maybe another variety altogether.

Santa Cruz Adventure. Golden Riverside Fig

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 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.

Here we are happy with our purchase!

Tasting the GE Neri Fig 2018

Tasting the GE Neri Fig 2018
Picked 10/04/18
1 Crop

I believe I got my GE Neri from Wagner Farms, who is no longer in the fig sales business. However I believe you will see cuttings pop up on ebay every once in a while.

This particular fig split pretty badly while in the green house. There are others on the tree that still look pretty good and have a small chance of ripening. Hopefully they don't encounter the  same fate.

67.6 Grams

This fig reminds me of my Deanna that split pretty badly last yer as well. They could be the same if not really similar.

I had an expectation that this fig was going to somewhat bland. But I was wrong it actually was a very pleasant honey melon flavor. Quite similar to the flavors of the golden riverside without the same punch though. 

The GE Neri is actually a pretty good fig. It's moderately large and could get larger with time. It's also juicy and has a good sweetness about it. Ever since I got my Golden Riverside, I've been buying other fig varieties similar to the Golden Riverside to see if they are the same or not. This fig along with the long yellow are figs I'm growing as comparison to the the Golden Riverside. The flavor profile is definitely the same but it is not an exact match. 

It's like comparing Chicago Hardy to a Takoma Violet. They are both berry types but the Takoma Violet just has that "je ne sais quoi" about it that makes it stand out. Same goes for my Golden Riverside.

GE Neri (10/04/18)

Main crop

Taste: 7.5

Sweetness: 7.5

Size: 7 (67.6 grams)

Productivity: 2

Total = 24

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.

Here we are happy with our purchase!