Personally I want a fig that taste like a fig!, at least what my brain thinks is a fig taste, LOL.  I was recently asked which fig (s) had a "strawberry" taste.  I don't know!

I would like opinions on a "strawberry" tasting fig.

Sal EL/Gene is the closest I've found, but had depth and acidity is more like raspberry to me.

A lot of my dark figs remind me of other berries rather than figs - Celeste and Kadota (which I finally tasted this year) are the closest to what I expect for "figgy" flavor, and it shows best when they're dried. Many of my dark figs have berry flavors, but I haven't tasted much outside of that. Either sweet and watery, sweet and honey/rich ("figgy" to me), or sweet and berry-like.

Sadly, I don't think the fig variety 'Banana' taste like bananas and neither Strawberry nor Strawberry Verte taste like strawberries. I can only imagine the disappointment of people who buy these figs with the hope they do (or b/c of the mental flavor image they get), and I often find myself cursing the person who thought to name them these things ;)

I believe the "taste" of a fig begins when the eye sees it, either cut, or, whole and intact.  We believe a hanging, wrinkled, fig should taste sweet with figgy honey.  The expectation of flavor is already in our minds.  When we eat a fig, we fill in the blanks and taste what we want to taste.  A fig is a fig...not a raspberry dipped in wine.

Flavor is totally subjective.  I also believe that many, many varieties taste the same.  Too many taste the sizzle, and not the steak.


Fig flavor is the least important  characteristic for me, personally.  That being said, I will not waste my time on growing a variety that consistently disappoints, like a bad "Brown Turkey".  Too many better varieties.


My thoughts.

Frank

Frank, I have some varieties that I could put side by side with other fruit and I guarantee you couldn't tell the difference if the fig and the other fruit were puréed.

I have to peg flavors out of beer and wine all the time and come up with some bizarre stuff. My palate is pretty right-on - I'm one of those jerks that can eat a dish at a restaurant and tell you a half dozen or more ingredients in it, and usually go home to recreate it (food, drink and cooking are a passion of mine).

I've tasted "fig", and there are a ton of figs in my collection that taste very different from that flavor. True, taste is indeed subjective - cant argue with that - but I do argue that there are figs that don't taste like figs, and sight only affects the palate of an amateur taster.

Jason, I'm with you on this one.  Beer!  I LOVE going to a brewery and trying the different types!  There IS a difference!  Same with wine!  JD, my husband, can't tell any difference in any wine or beer, so I keep the good stuff for me, and give him the cheap stuff.  He can't tell the difference.  Same with figs.

I've asked many times on this forum, "What is the flavor?" I even ask, "Is it rich, Honey, sweet, watery?  Berry, Melon?  What?"  Many times all I get is "It tastes sweet and good." 

So, since taste is such a personal thing, I'm doing flavor profiles with my own figs, and starting to compliment members who actually give a flavor profile when they describe certain figs. 

I can see a huge reason to collect varieties of figs if you care about variety in flavor.  I can see no reason to collect if you don't even care about flavor.  Just my opinion...  :-))

Suzi

Suzi I laughed when you said that your husband couldn't tell the difference so he gets the cheap stuff - LOL - my husband can't either !

I'd love to see your fig flavor profiles, hope you will post that. As a new collector , I know taste is subjective , but I think it would be very helpful.

did someone say beer? love 'em,  brew 'em, and drink 'em. if i had enough, i'll take bath in them. i might try brewing beer with figs.

I freely admit that my palate is not as sensitive as many others, but I do know a good tasting fig when I eat it! To me the taste is a range of fig taste from mild to rich, sweet to sweeter with flavors that are unique to each fig. I don't get an overwhelming berry or melon taste, just a different taste from fig variety to fig variety. And I agree if taste is not a critical issue, not much to collect. Frank your comment surprises me.  Main thing I'm looking for in a fig is taste

Very interesting to read all of the comments, and perhaps, upon reflection, I should rethink the flavor question.  I wish I could hang out with a  more sophisticated palate, and learn how to identify the differences between figs.  I never really gave much thought about the differing flavors.  I just know sweet, figgy, and then, "Brown Turkey". 

Maybe one day I will go to some fig fest and taste a bunch of different ripe figs, and be able to discern some differences.  I just love figs, and will eat any fig that hits my mouth.  I will say this...most "Brown Turkey" figs are about as flavorless as a fig can get, so this variety does serve a purpose by offering a distinct contrast between what a lousy tasting fig, and better tasting figs should taste like.  Terrible syntax, but you know what I mean.

Love to read all the postings.  Interesting thread.

Frank

my kids can detect only 3 different taste. the good, the bad and the ugly. i keep asking them to tell me what certain things taste like and their answer is always.. "it's good..", "it's bad.. " or "it's too ugly, i'm not eating it".

THX for the discussion on the sophisticated palate, but, does anyone have a fig that the sophisticated palates say "ahh, that tastes like strawberry". LOL

I personally do even like fresh strawberries but I was asked so I am looking for anything that even slightly resembles the taste of strawberry.

I'm a taste guy, myself. Frank, what are the most important things for you? it's always fun to hear other points of view.

I've been making fresh fig tarts at work for the last several weeks - Brown Turkeys every time!!  They are watery tasting, not very sweet but they do taste figgy.  With the addition of pastry cream and apricot glaze - it's pretty good. 

Last nights tarts were made with either black mission or kadota (?).  To me they looked like black mission, but I don't know what a kadota looks like. 

Anyway the point is taste. They were not very sweet, they did taste figgy, but there was also a stinging sensation when I ate a few, or was it a few more?  I ate a lot of them despite the stinging sensation I had - better then no fig - right?

BOB C.

Sorry for the late response...I just saw the additional comments.

The flavor of of a fig matters little to me.  If it's sweet, figgy, and delicious, I'm fine with that.  I am easily satisfied with a fig that is a pleasure to eat.  I fully admit that my taste palate is not very demanding, however a "Brown Turkey" leaves me wanting something a little more flavorful.  I have little space, nor the time, to trial dozens of varieties, and search for some elusive nuances.  I'll leave that to the experts.

What's important to me is vigor, hardiness, split-resistance, yield, and, whether figs will ripen in my short-season climate.  I have no use for a variety that produces figs that have an exceptionally delicious flavor, but, that will only properly ripen in Southern California, or the Arizona heat.

I am also very happy with my unsophisticated sense of taste.  It makes for less expense.  I can enjoy a ground chuck hamburger off my barbeque more than I would enjoy a $125.00 hamburger from Peter Luger's Steak house.  There was a time when I was very young and very foolish, that I would only wear custom-made suits, and I paid big, NYC bucks for those threads.  I thought I looked great.  The dames still ran away from me!  : ))))  Now, I'm an off-the-rack kind of guy.


Just my thoughts...with a wink.

Frank

Frank,

I like your approach to this topic.  I'm with you on this.  I know that some people on this forum have over 100 different varieties and collect as many rare and unique figs as possible.  Me, I just want to have some big healthy trees in the ground in my backyard that taste good to me and produce a lot of figs.  My approach was to plant several different cultivars and just let them grow and see how they turn out.  That's what I did and the results kind of surprised me.  I planted Black Madera and Barnissotte and Col de Dame and some of the other figs that are supposed to be among the best.  Altogether I've grown 13 different varieties of fig.  After seeing how they all did in my yard for a couple of years I found - to my surprise - that 2 of the varieties stood out the most to me: Violette de Bordeuax and the unknown that grew at the house I used to live in as a kid in NJ.  Those are the two that I like the most.  But someone else might have grown the same trees and found that they liked different ones instead.  Flavor is very subjective.  My advice would be grow a bunch of different ones.  Taste them all.  Then keep the ones that you really like.

Joe...et al.

I would really like to grow nice tasting varieties that will ripen over a longer period of time, so that I will have a more extended season.  Right now the couple of varieties that I'm growing, all ripen within the same 2-3 weeks, then, the show's over.  I need some early, middle, and late-ripening varieties.  Then I will be happier.

Good thread...interesting comments, but ultimately, taste is still subjective.

Frank

FrozenJoe, not a surprise to me.  I find it very hard to believe that it's easy to surpass what my PN delivers, especially if I actually manage to eat a ripe one.  So my interest in any collection, provided I could keep them, is almost entirely about different flavors and most importantly, a longer fig season.  My PN delivers a bit more than two weeks of production, breba and main each.  Want longer picking season.

Shah,

I'm not sure where you live.  A lot of it has to do with climate.  I used to live in Massachusetts, which had a short growing season.  Figs were a treat for September and the beginning of October.  Here in Arizona the brebas start in May.  The main crop starts in June and goes until about Thanksgiving. Most trees seem to ripen the figs in crops.  A crop will last about a month or two.  Most of the trees I've grown seem to produce two main crops here.  A couple are more everbearing in habit.  They will ripen fewer figs at a time but they seem to go all summer long and into the fall.

I was just reading an old thread on dormancy, and someone from Hawaii said they were able to pick some figs the year around. Of course their climate is very different from the continental US.

It's all about the heat, frozen guy.  Shade lowers productivity, but heat is what makes my figs taste good.  I live in the northern Atlanta suburbs.  Of course, this is the year we get to have a rainy summer!

Be interesting if shade also lowers productivity by shortening the ripening season, something to keep in mind.  Atlanta area should be able to ripen figs into mid October.  Also, this is a sunlight issue.  The lower the latitude you are, the less cold weather stops your season, I believe.

I'm in the process of moving most of my figs in pots around to the really sunny, warm side of the house where there can be sun from just after sunrise to sunset to see how much I can extend the season and improve taste. Not only is there sun, but there's reflection from large windows. And I'll be able to see the figs from inside the house now too. Critters don't much like coming that close to the house too. Win-win-win. :)  If it works, that is.

My trees are still pretty young and none of the fruit has bowled me over to the point that I'm falling to my knees in ecstasy, but there have been some clear taste differences. On the other hand, it's so dry here most of the time that my figs are usually kind of shriveled and sunburned, with tough skins. I'm hoping that as the trees mature, the figs will get larger and juicier. So for me, taste matters but size is really important also. The bigger the fig, the better the ratio between juicy flesh and dry skin. I noticed a big improvement in size, texture and flavor during our humid summer rainy season--when it wasn't so wet the figs were splitting.

As good as some of my new varieties are, I don't know that I would trade any them for my deceased Brown Turkey, if it could have stayed just as it was back in the days before beetles started ruining the fruit. I think the combination of high heat and large fruit size brought out optimum flavor and texture--whereas the same tree in a cooler, moister climate would probably yield the watery, tasteless fruit that sounds typical for a BT in most areas. So I'm with Joe and others--try growing a bunch of different varieties and keep what works best in your own yard. What tastes great in one place may not be so great elsewhere.

Maybe in the coming seasons when my "Kathleen's Black"..."Marseilles Black"-VS and virus-free "Black Mission" deign to give me something to eat, I will then visit  the Cinemax Theater of the fig-flavors.  I want to visit that... Non Plus Ultra of Ficus fruit. 

One day my fig will come.


F...from The Bronx.