Of the varieties I've rooted, if I could only keep 5 (say it ain't so!) this would be the current list. The main consideration is taste. There are still a good number I either haven't tried, or they were on plants too young to accurately appraise. And far more I haven't grown at all.

I would rather grow multiples of these than keep an 'average-tasting' fig.

In no particular order, and subject to change, these are real keepers primarily based on 'holy cow, this is wonderful!':

Adriatic JH
Col de Dame Blanc
Marius' Unknown Negretta
UCD Black Ischia
Ronde de Bordeaux


What are your 5 keepers?

Thanks for sharing. I don't have a top-five list, but I like all figs that have the sweet honey taste.

For my zone -- Granthams Royal, Aubique Petite, Dark Portuguese, LSU O'Rourke, RdB.

That's a nice list of figs Gina!

I am still sorting through some promising varieties but I haven't made up my mind yet.  So much depends on your climate. 
Here I need to filter by how cold hardy a fig is and whether it can ripen in our shorter summer window.  Also here we tend to get a lot of rain in October when most figs ripen so need to get ones that aren't prone to splitting and of course there are no fig wasps around here.

Decisions decisions if only I could get a giant heated greenhouse and have a S. California micro climate right here next to Niagara Falls:)
 

Right now my list looks like this, but I'll be tasting at least 20-30 varieties new to me within the next two months, so I expect this list to change.

CdDB (can't imagine this being displaced from the top)

In no particular order below CdDB:
Paradiso Gene
Hardy Chicago
Beall (underrated)
Panachee

Note: Harvey and I tasted a few figs new to both of us late last September at Prusch Park in San Jose. Conditions were quite droughty for a number of trees in the orchard that hadn't seen supplemental water in years due to a patchy irrigation system. Many figs were quite acidic, a trait I like, though in this case I expect the taste of some of the figs were far more acidic than usual and even too acidic for me to eat more than two or three (our mouths were a mess for a couple of days after that trip). Two varieties that really surprised us and, for me, stood out from the rest in my memory were:

Igo Prusch (not the same tree as many/most of the Igo trees out there)
Lampeira Branca (common fig not to be confused with L. Preta)

I could easily add both to my top five list, but am waiting to taste them again under my conditions. I should get a couple ripe Igo P. figs this year. I'll return to Prusch Park again in late September to see the fig orchard and hope to see a few ripe figs remaining on the trees. The irrigation problem has been resolved, so it should make for an interesting comparison.

This year and not necessarily in this order:
1. Adriatic JH
2. Noire de Barbentane
3. Aldo's Palermo Red
4. Italian Honey Fig (RA)
5. Longue D'Aout

Gina nice list!
I agree w Posturedoc on some of his list. My list would be:
Col de Dama (any kind)
Adriatic JH
Figo Preto
Panachee
Paradiso Gene

In a few weeks I will have my first Smith so this may change!

My Unknowns are all keepers haha!