Cessac and Campaniere were the best ones this week. Both were very richly flavored and sweet.
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Would you say any of these figs are significantly different in flavor profile to other top varieties? I find some of the fig flavor descriptions as pretty ridiculous now that I have had many. I would love to be proved wrong though.
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There is so much hype with fig flavors. A fig taster told me that someone on YouTube was telling people about a “cotton candy” flavor fig…
Wonder what other words they can find to describe the flavors.
I taste more and more figs. I still do not think they are hugely different to justify the premium folks pay. I’ll get more varieties to fruit next year. I’ll see if I can tell the difference.
I let my son taste some of my figs. His taste is very different from mine. He likes the more fruity figs, not the dry and jammy figs.
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That’s a fair question. I’d say there’s a pronounced difference in flavor profile of berry figs vs honey figs vs figgy figs vs Mt. Etna figs, but it starts to get pretty subtle after that. For me, a really good fig has lingering richness after I’ve eaten it. A lot of figs just hit you with a pop of flavor. The great ones have a flavor that lasts.
But what do I know? I think most wines taste fairly similar, and the descriptions in the wine world are way more complex than in figs.
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Yeah, a well-hyped fig can sell for a lot of money. I think a lot of fig sellers exaggerate flavor descriptions and/or create fake origin stories to try to build a myth to sell the next big fig. And there’s always one or two in-demand figs each year that people will bid big money on, but you rarely hear much about them in the years that follow (all hat, no cattle). If you read a too-good-to-be-true description about a new fig from someone who sells a lot of cuttings on figbid, it’s probably best to be skeptical. Then again, I think some people describe figs by highlighting the subtlest flavors, which can help distinguish one fig from another — and that’s a pretty common practice in apple descriptions and other fruits too (just check out the fedco site or this guys site). I’ve been caught up in the hype a few times over the years, and it’s frustrating to spend that money, wait a few year, and find out you just got an average fig. So when I sell cuttings on figbid, I try to be fair in my descriptions without making stuff up.
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I fully agree with the above.
I certainly like to see photos of all the figs and all other fruits. And some YouTube videos too. Even if Harvey (Figaholic) describes some fig variety, he has to come up with words to describe the “flavor”. But he sells his cuttings and trees at relatively flat prices and to my knowledge he does not have FigBid auctions behind his videos. This is something that I realized shortly after I started to grow fig trees.
If someone posts fig tasting YouTube videos and then has quite a few FigBid live auctions for the fig newbies to bid on and they fetch like $100 for each cutting, then the motives of those reviews are very obvious. In stock market, it is illegal to do pump and dump. But there is no fig police or fig commission to regulate fig market.
So I just turn off those YouTube channels and never come back to those fig sensationals.
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Add to that, the same fig cultivar tastes different in different climates, and I also find that the same tree has different tasting figs at different parts of the growing season, and that the change of the fig flavor can vary on the same tree less as the tree ages. Oh and a fig cultivar tastes different in pot verses in ground.
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Here is a Chinese fig called YangZhou. I think it is somehow similar to the Matsui-Dauphine fig in Japan. I’m not sure since there is not much info.
The good thing with this fig is that, it sent figlets on about 6/20/2022 after complete die to ground over winter. It is a mid season fig that takes about 85 days to ripen. It is a large fig about 60 grams. It has a very slow ripening period. So it does not split or crack. Even after the recent rain, it still holds its shape really well. Its flavor is a balanced fruity, figgy and sweet. It does not taste like the traditional California Brown Turkey.
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Very nice shots, Steven. I acquired a Cessac too a little too late for it to fruit for me this year. Looking forward to some fruit next year. People say it’s somewhat reminiscent of Smith. What set it apart from the rest in your opinion?
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It has that depth of richness that sets apart the really good figs from the rest. It keeps you wanting more.
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Ross did that with LdA… cotton candy.
…$!$
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Cotton candy flavored or not, LdA is a spectacular fig especially in the dry west coast. My personal favorite for this climate.
It is a commonly available and low cost fig too.
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@ramv My Crozes is a first year tree that has been pumping out figs like no tomorrow! Got it from a very reliable source in California. Mine look a little more elongated, good, but not great. I hope they improve over time. Yours looks delicious! Congrats!
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Well what’s your take on LdA tasting like cotton candy?
I am not very good with imaginative flavor adjectives. But I believe I have a discriminative palate.
I don’t believe it tastes like cotton candy at all. What I really like about LdA is that it is sweet top to bottom. It has a unique flavor that I enjoy more than most other figs. I also like the texture: chewiness without being too thick or dense.
In my climate, it is in my top 3 overall and definitely top 10 for flavor.
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Even the slightest difference in climate, watering, sunlight, level of ripeness, and even nutrition can develop different flavors in a fig. Some years most of our figs have a melon flavor, other years they vary from each other more in flavor, without the melon like flavor. I have not grown LDA myself.
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