Since April 2010, I have been traveling to San Diego for business. In doing so, I have met Jon and visited the Encanto Farm. Well, today I had the pleasure of meeting Sue V and visiting the home sites of the Willow St, Macualay St, Preto, Branca, Abebereira, and Chico Strawberry.
All of those fig trees are reside in a Portuguese neighborhood of Point Loma and many just a block or two away from each other. The figs are localized to an area that has a perimeter of no more than 7 miles; I know this because I Google mapped the locations. Prior to the fig trek, Sue and I exchanged emails and talked on the phone briefly.
She picked me up around 11:30A. Sue is a fig veteran so she was well prepared with a pruner, ziplocks, and a sharpie. She also knows all the fig tree owners by name as well as the history of the trees and house if the fig lives on abandoned property.
I only had about one hour to taste (lunch break), to ooh and aah, and to be astonished at the size of some of the trees. As I did that, Sue was a most gracious host as she took cuttings and bagged them for me of all except Preto because I already have it.
Note: It has rained all day on Monday and Tuesday, so I was prepared for watery tasting figs.
1st stop: Macaulay St Fig. The tree is not cared for at all. There weren't any ripe or even partially-eaten-by-bird figs on the tree. Most were either rotting on the ground or had molded while still hanging on the tree. The tree needs some TLC.
2nd stop: Willow St Fig. On our way to Willow St, we spotted two other fig trees in yards that Sue hadn't noticed before. The Willow St fig is a big tree. It has a thick trunk. The fruit are large & purple, green neck, amber pulp. Even with the rain, the fruit hadn't split but the taste was just okay. There were quite a few to pick and Sue reminded me that it has been the coolest summer ever here in southern CA.
Next stop: The Three Madeiras: Abebereira, Branca, and Preto. These three amigas live behind the brick wall of Ms. Estella. We first noticed how sick the Abebereira looked. Tasted a few long, dark figs with reddish pulp but none were ripe. Branca has green/yellow figs with amber pulp. We found one; although it wasn't quite ripe and watered down, it was still sweet and must be very good when ripe. Preto. I found one had split and it was soooo red and juicy. I sure did...very good. Then I found another. Very berry, complex, and not overly sweet. Sue said that are better with more heat. I could not believe how many figs (ripe and unripe) were on this tree. It was so healthy and prolific. The most prolific fig tree I have seen in person. If the batteries in the camera - that I borrowed - were not exhausted, then I wouldn't need all of these words. I have a few that I will post later.
4th stop. Chico Strawberry. One of most unique tasting figs I have eaten. It tastes like some other fruit was injected into the fig. I'm not sure which one but Sue says 'peach'. Its eye is *not* closed so due to the rain several had split and others had rotted. Still, the taste on the few ripe we found was distinctive and good. I am excited to have cuttings of this green skinned but brilliant red pulped fig tree; I am not sure how it will respond in the heat and humidity of the southeast.
Random stops. On our way back, we drove by the 4 unknown UCDavis tress on Cape May and then stopped in another alley to taste what was a Mission. It was good. As we continued down the alley, we happened to 'discover' another green skinned, red pulped fig. None were quite ripe but we made notes (Naragansett & Santa Barbara; off of SB) and eyeballed the leaves.
I had to get back and prep for a 1PM so we got back around 12:35P. I'll be back.
Sue is a knowledgeable, fig passionate, and good natured person. Sue, thanks for taking the time to be my guide. I truly appreciate it!
JD