Does caprification of figs affect the flavor of the fig? Other than flower pollination to produce seeds (which will change the texture of the fig), does the flavor change: become fuller, richer, produce more honey, etc.?

I know there are many fruits whose flavor is enhanced by pollination (persimmons come to mind immediately). I am wondering about figs?

Yes. Whether that's for the better is a matter of personal taste.

Theres probably some info on line about this--research. Good question! I would like to know also.

Yes, for some varieties by a lot, for some by a little.

Found it! Here's a side by side comparison done by user Lampo

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1287834093&postcount=6

Here's the whole thread: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/common-figs-and-pollination-7492161 

There's also a thread around here somewhere in which Jon, the guy who runs F4F, said he preferred Black Madeira and VdB uncaprified in his area. I can't find it or I'd link to it.

I've had a decent amount of both caprified and uncaprified figs, but I only know for sure that I've had Kadota both ways and I think it's really good in either state. Still, I'd like to try as many as possible. You're in AZ so you can probably ask someone to ship blastophaga to you and see what happens.

But just keep in mind that even caprified figs in bad conditions (too rainy, too cold) will still produce lesser quality fruit. Quality relies so much on a combination of factors.

Smyfigs: thanks!

Greenfig: gotcha. It makes sense it would be cultivar depdendent

levar: This is tons of great information! Thanks for finding those links! We don't have the fig wasp down here and I was wondering if I wanted to go to the trouble to establish a colony (would it be worth it). And it seems like it is much more complicated than I thought. You have to have several caprifigs to not only house the wasps at the right time of their lives (they go from living in male figs to being born in female figs in several cycles through the season) but also providing pollen at the right times to. It looks like there was some attempt at this in AZ in the 1900s: https://books.google.com/books?id=Ix1FAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=introducing+fig+wasp+to+AZ&source=bl&ots=M3GoEdty_I&sig=Pktx8WFGWJl-3wSVebeg7poWOpA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiC14L0h8bKAhXJr4MKHQKTCTQQ6AEIPzAG#v=onepage&q=introducing%20fig%20wasp%20to%20AZ&f=false

But your other idea, just get some figs wasps and seeing how my figs react to being pollinated for one crop might be a very interesting experiment! Then I could see the changes first hand and determine if it might be worth the effort to establish a colony.

Thanks for the info and ideas!

Yes, everything affects flavor, color, etc. Caprification affects taste and color. Clearly we are talking about figs that are not Smyrna types, since they can't be tasted without being caprified.

In my experience most figs have greater flavor when caprified, but some do not taste as good. Interestingly, for me, Black Madeira has never tasted as good when caprified as it does when it is not. No way to know how much weather, soil, fertilizer, water, etc. affected the caprified figs I have eaten.

That is part of the issue with figs - they are so responsive to their environments that it is very hard to make comparisons between figs grown in different conditions. When figs on the same tree can be honey colored and strawberry colored depending on what week they ripen, it gets a little dicey trying to make dogmatic statements about how much this factor or that factor affects flavor.

Исследования влияния опыление инжира kapri fikusami был проведен в НБС Ялте у большинство сортов инжира вкус улучшается.

Jon, thanks for the response! That's right, I was talking about non-Smyrna figs.

That is an interesting observation: greater flavor but does not necessarily taste as good.

And I agree, that just watching the figs ripen week to week makes a huge difference in taste. My VdB is fairly consistent flavor-wise across the crops. But Black Jack on the other hand is very bland for the early crops even when they are perfectly ripe, but the later crop in the same season is much fuller tasting.

Definitely lots of variables at play here :)

Vladis, here was the translation I found: "Studies of the effect pollination of figs kapri fikusami was held in Yalta, NBS from most varieties of figs taste improves."

Gotcha. It seems like that is the general trend from what I have been reading too. But as Jon points out, that is not always the case. Thanks!

Another issue is heat. Earlier ripening figs often do not have as much heat, so have less flavor and sugar. Black Jack can range from tasting like a Brown Turkey in cooler weather to something close to a Black Mission in really nice hot weather.

Black Madeira seems to loose its ability to ripen after the first few cool days. They will continue to ripen, and even if the weather is quite warm or hot after the cool days they do not ripen as well as they would have before the cool days.

There are a lot more subtleties and variations than we generally realize. When most figs ripen in appropriate weather, and are great, we can be lulled, and we are often slow to recognize the variations in the environment that might have a more profound affect on a given variety while others are unaffected.

Caprified Excel, Brown Turkey, Calfornia Brown Turkey, Black Mission, and Panachee are out of this freaking world in richness and taste. The size and texture is also very different.

Мара,These are printed in the book "Varieties of figs." 1975 release. The book is published in Russian. Translation into English I have not seen in the internet.