Very old variety of a large, Common fig, to be harvested in September. sweet, slightly acidic,juicy, aromatic and full of crunchy seeds giving this fruit a
delicious nutty flavor.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lampo2012/sets/72157635622860245/

Francisco

Those look great Francisco I love to see figs with this greenish purple color and skin cracks.

Very a unique tincture that this fig dispays, Francisco.  If a leprechaun and Prince got into a fight and were rolling down the stairs, they would look like a Cavaleiro.    :--)

Your figs always make my day...
Do you have a picture of a dries cotia and par dingo btw?
Thanks

I also love the look of green/purple skin. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Beautiful fig, Francisco! 
Is the eye half open or just appears to be like that?

thats a great looking fig- thanks for sharing, I love the purple/green color to the skin

Gorgeous! 

Thank you all for having a look and commenting this post

Me too I like figs displaying these color combinations and marked red juicy pulps.
Have yet to make the seed test, but feel that these figs were pollinated, given the eye and skin cracking all around.

Tasted a dozen of them and all have a distinct and rich crunchy flavor, something you only realy feel when 'grinding' polinated figs... otherwise the seeds are just empty shells and the flavor is not there.

Greenfig, non polinated figs show an almost closed eye and just very superficial skin cracking. It is practically impossible to avoid caprification on these figs.

Eli, dry figs are already available. Will soon show the earlier varieties which ripen by the end of July/August and had time to dry and process...Côtio, Pingo de Mel, Inchário, etc.
Pardinho is a rather late variety (from early September) and is not yet available as a dry fig.

Francisco

Francisco,

Can you tell me if the Cavaliere is the same as your Cavaleiro? Are those two words the same meaning but two different languages?

I am providing pictures.

Wow. Just wow.

http://ficuscarica.com/carica/cavaliere.html

purple and green,good color combination very nice
thanks for the link Francisco!

Thank you for commenting on this variety.

Nelson, Rafed,

The two words naming this fig respectively in Portuguese and Italian are synonyms, meaning exactly the same thing (-knight - horse man - chevalier -)

The figs do not seem to be the same.
I am attaching the more complete set of pictures where the leaves can be seen, and they are different.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lampo2012/sets/72157635622860245/

That is interesting... a couple of years ago looking at that link, Nelson showed, I was intrigued and last year bought from my Sicilian friend, among other cuttings, one Cavaliere which is rooting now and next year will probably give me a sample fig.Its leaves are similar to the ones on your trees...will show it later today.

Francisco

So, without the fig wasp will the eyes stay more closed? This isn't a caprifig, correct?

Tami,

No, this fig is not a caprifig.
Some figs may show open eyes but this may also be from some light rain of last week.
It is correct that some Common figs when subject to the insect grow excessively and brake through the ostiole...however the majority of fruit do get more volume an weight without cracking.. but the skin shows those patterns seen on the picture.

Francisco

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/inch%C3-%A1rios-black-and-white-6463591

Gina,

Good! Am glad, you are probably the first person from this forum, (not the professionals)
to harvest ripe Zidi's and I would very much love to see your pictures of both P & Z !

The only conspicuous signs (external) of a Smyrna fig, once pollinated, are immediately after that process...say 3 to 4 days after the wasp has entered the still small green fig(not bigger than 1/2 inch in cross diameter)..this happens around the 3rd week of June.
white dots on a changing color skin and the fruit getting swollen rather fast! I hope you had taken pictures through the weeks following pollination. Once this being observed, you have almost 100% chances that your Zidi will ripen...only an accident could stop this Natural process. ..and, if it failed pollination in a week or so, the fig dries, shrinks dramatically and fall.

If your Zidi's are still there, with a nice blackish/violet color and getting bigger every week, you may safely say that it was pollinated.
The black fig on the above link is a cousin of Zidi and the only sign (as such) indicating it was pollinated is its presence .. otherwise it had dried and fall long time ago-
The black fig on the link is a black Inchário I never cared to bring the wasps to its branches.. On their own the little insects always found their way from a nearby caprifig, may be 300 yards away. But many old hands, neighbours, etc still today keep saying that the proximity of the caprifigs will spoil my figs...but it never happened!
But if one has few caprifigs, or if they are a bit too far, there are ways to 'call them' to our trees.
Look forward to see the pictures of your Zidi figs

Francisco

Some cowboys are all hat and no cattle. This looks like the real deal. (Not to denigrate chivalric allusion.)

Francisco,

Nelson believes I have the real deal, according to the texting we were both having.
Only one way to find out is to wait till next season so the plant will get bigger and hopefully the fruit will ripen.

I got mine from a very reliable source but mistakes do happen. Won't be the first time I've been let down and definitely not the last.


Gina,

Are the twigs on your Unk. Past. plant skinny? I want to know if those are some of the characteristics of this cultivar or is it just my strain? 

Rafed, Nelson

Oops.. Sorry, I was convinced that I had already shown the link with the leaves of my imported Cavaliere,..here they are:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lampo2012/sets/72157635720284275/

These leaves have a marked pattern which is not very common on such a young tree, where thay mostly appear all different

If I may say so, the central lobe extends unproportionally in length when compared with the side lobes, like yours.

Francisco


PS: Contrary to what has been standard practise up to recently, my system stopped accepting direct uploads of pictures, which was for me a simple task.. also other functions and facilities simply disappeared. I am confused and think may be I am sending too many pictures and overloading disks somewhere !!??
I promise from now on to send fewer pictures..

Gina,

Feel really sad for your computer problems
Never mind, there will be other opportunities , for sure.

By the way, one Ministry of Agriculture Agency from Tunisia, the mother land of ZIDI,
has officially put on the Internet this very interesting illustrated document, describing their major fig cultivars, with interesting notes, with Zidi on the first page (My connections there, say it represents for Tunisia, what Black Madeira is for the F4F)

http://www.asnaped.org.tn/caract_varietes.htm#v1

looking at and reading the document my rather poor french let me understand from the notes on the side of the picture, that: Caprification is mandatory for Zidi.

This fig is so good that the fellow who finds the process to make it to behave like a Common fig, will make a lot of money overnight !

Francisco

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=26838666&postcount=4

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1266904924&postcount=23

Francisco: They have large eyes but they look tasty. Thank you.

Best,
Tam