With 4" of snow, temps of 25 degrees and 25 mph winds I decided to harvest what appears to be my second to last fig of 2012.  Unless the next one holds out past Jan 1 of course.

Could easily have been eaten at this stage but the neck was still supple



Almost ready...


And today it fell off with a little poke




The skin by itself tastes like a very rich concord grape.  The pulp has a mild berry taste which holds its own against the skin so together it's like a berry-grape mixture.  Nice seed crunch.  Scrumptious but not as good as the Panache.

Beautiful, but now you made me hungry.  Gotta go get a spoon and a jar of Bass' fig & walnut jam.

I don't even bother to take photos!  Ha!  While hoping my VdB was OK to prune (It's not, and I owe many cuttings) I discovered two ripe figs like yours, and they were delicious!  I just pop them in my mouth!  Yummmmmmmmmm!!

There are so many more wanting to ripen.  I knocked off a lot of yellow leaves trying to count the cuttings I can share, but tons of figs and green leaves remain.

Suzi

Maybe some day I'll have land in paradise.  But for 4" of snow on the ground, this'll have to do  :)  Have you heard about your offer yet, Suzi?

I am delighted and happy I have my VdB cooking in a box... what you say 2 more years to fruition?

grasa

if you root the VdB now, you will have fig by 2014. 

i can't wait long enough to get fully ripen fig like that. as soon as the fig softens and there is no firmness in the neck, it's in my mouth :) 

My cutting moved to the cup and is ready for the pot, so I was just nooking that soil in the microwave, in case there is any gnat eggs in it... soon it cools off, they are going in larger pots... affe, 2 years is a long time to wait.

What a great looking fig!  I see why it's in high demand, based on your description.
What do you think Suzi?  Good for wine making or is it just too good in its raw form?  :)

Bob, no news on the offer.  It's Holiday season, so probably nothing for a while... short sale and all.  Banks love to leave you hanging.  FiggyFrank, VdB is not one for wine making, but I've got some cuttings I'm rooting that could be so sweet and delish........ 

Suzi

I think you would need 300 lbs of figs to get enough juce to make 5 gal of wine. i bet it would be good stuff though.

After seeing the amounts of figs some of you all are growing, there's got to be a bottle of fig wine somewhere!  haha

I knocked off 10 figs today - they were purple, small and hard!  The last couple I ate in November were terrible - the brown turkeys we get at work were heavenly in comparison.lol

Bob, I applaud you patience to wait for the fig to look like that before picking - I don't know if I have it in me to wait that long;)

I sure hope the vdb cuttings i have root, those fruits look awsome.

grasa,

2 years isn't so long.. it will fly by.

VdB is still my favorite. it has that strong raspberry taste, if the weather cooperates. if not, it's still good. i'm hoping Nero 600M will be more weather tolerant. my VdB didn't blow up or anything, well few did. but the taste become bland when there's too much rain.

RC thanks for showing picture of your VdB .

Very nice VDB photos. It looks Delicious!
The question: 
Is  Panache really a better tasting fig?
I don't know because I have not tried a  Panache fig yet.
I also was digging through photos of figs and could not ID this fig. Can anyone ID this fig?
Is it possible that it may be a Brown Turkey?

here is my VdB that was hiding from me and the birds.

typically i prefer the VdB at this stage. this was from 2011. super sweet, super raspberry flavor. the weather was perfect.

I've got a big smile on my face. :) Great picture!

Wow, those are making me hungry!

My VdB from raintree in much lighter inside and had a melon like taste. Delicious, but not what I was expecting. The tree is very young and all I got to try this year were brebas. Anyone else have the same experience with their VdB?

Andy

Hi Andy i have not heard anyone yet describe it as having a watermelon type taste yet mostly a berry type taste i also have this type cultivar . But never get breba as i pick them off all my plants.
Perhaps you can start another thread with pictures if you can of tree leaves and fruit and pose question about your Raintree VdB .

hmm.. i like watermelon taste. my Paradiso Gene has that distinct watermelon taste when the weather is just right on the second main crop.

That's frame-worthy right there.  Just perfect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullet08
here is my VdB that was hiding from me and the birds.

Martin, I plan on it.... but it may be a while. The tree is dormant now and I think the brebas got zapped when we hit 18-19F one night unexpectedly in Oct. Maybe the main crop will ripen with no brebas. Though the picture Raintree has for VdB shows a significantly lighter interior than any other picture I have seen.
The taste was more cantaloupe/honeydew than watermelon and not at all the berry I was expecting. We will have to see what it does next year...

Andy