Hi,

Last year infection by the "fig virus" has made me notice and investigate fig related things that where taken for granted or not worthy of further interest on my part.

My oldest fig tree was one of those things. A very old and reliable tree- my wife says it was planted by her grandfather and probably is more than 50-60 years old - it produces a good crop of black figs every year. Unfortunately, they mature in September and if the rains come early the majority of the figs are usually lost.

We are having a severe drought this year and its not all bad. The figs are maturing nicely and i have noticed a couple of things i have not seen in the last few years (they where probably there but my focus was elsewhere)

First, one important question... Which variety of black fig is this?

I don't really know. It's a local variety. Almost everyone around here has this fig cultivar. It's ancient, reliable, very good to eat fresh and to dry, so people grow it a lot. 
My recent searches point to a renowned black fig from a near by region well know for it's excellent figs - Torres Novas. Those who are interested in Portuguese varieties (nelson20vt) have sometimes bought fig trees from a nursery - Plantula - that has almost all the cultivars that are usually grow over there.

In that region this fig is simply know has the Black fig from Torres Novas - "Figo Preto de Torres Novas". I've looked at photos of the fig and have compare them to mine - fresh and dried - and they look the same.

So, i probably have a few trees of this popular cultivar.

Now for some photos. First the fig tree. It was neglected and never pruned for decades. The majority of the figs where out of reach and consumed by birds. In the last few years, i have pruned it heavily, trying to lower the fig production to branches we can reach. It's a bit funny looking know, but its practical.

      

The figs start maturation in late August and the birds start eating them at the same time. When we see a fig changing color for sure its eaten by birds the next day. 
So, now we use a net that encloses all the tree. It's a bit tricky to place, but assures we can gather almost all the figs untouched.

The following photos where taken at 30 of August:

          

This is the first harvest, 3 days ago. 

Photos - 5 of September. The last photo is a medium size fig - has 32 grams (roughly 1 ounce)

           

This year, probably because of the drier weather, i'm noticing lots of cracks on the skin - i love these cracks in a fig and i didn't think mine where capable of doing that. My wife remembers that they often show these cracks over the years though.

       

What a great harvest, Jaime. A beautiful fig! I agree, the cracking of the skin is so appealing. What will you do to preserve some? Thank you for showing it to us.

Thanks, Gary.

Two years ago we also had a good fig year - not so good as this year tough - the figs where smaller and almost didn't crack.

We dried the excess figs and put them in jars. I've tasted them today and they are still extremely good with a very high sugar content.

They have lots of seeds, but the figs weren't pollinated. All the seeds float.

I'm sure going to try and dry some figs this year. The tree is producing that same crop every 5-6 days.
Also, they are bigger and better looking and they have all the conditions to produce a very good dried fig. Next photo, shot today - dried figs with 2 years:

 

This year i will also try to attend the "Dry Fruit Fair of Torres Novas", which is also known as the "Figo Preto Fair of Torres Novas". It's held every year and its a very good opportunity for the local producers to sell their dried figs. I will try to attend this year so i can better compare their Figo Preto of Torres Novas, to mine.

A few photos from last year exhibition, with several kinds of dried figs and other fruits - the third photo (the black figs in the basket, is labeled as Figo Preto de Torres Novas). 


          

Hi Jaime

Thank you
Nice set of pictures and figs.
For some time thought that this Preto TN was a strain of our early Preto ripening in early July.
Now I am sure, it is a totally diff variety.
Well, .. take as many as you can before the first rains arrive.

Francisco

Hi Jaime.
Beautiful  pictures! Thank you for taking the time to post them. Enjoy your fig.
Vito

lovely pictures Jaime and thank you for posting them I have always heard good things about this fig and hope to grow it myself someday.

Thanks Jamie
Enjoyed the photos and the nice fig story!

Thanks you all for taking the time to comment on this topic.

Francisco,
Your early Preto does seem a different fig. It's one of those varieties i'm going to ask you some cuttings this winter, because it seems much earlier than this one, which is a plus with the high humidity i usually have over here in late Summer. When we have heavy rains in August in some years, we lose almost all the crop.

Nelson,
I'm sure you will have the opportunity to grow it real soon. I won't forget to send you some cuttings this winter.

Yesterday we went by the tree to gather some more mature figs. With this warm weather i was surprised to see another good batch of figs already ripe (almost 6 pounds). Also, my Moscatel Branco gave me one of the best crops yet (5,5 pounds).

     

With so much figs i cleaned my improvised solar dehydrator and put it to work.

Here it is.
     

Its a simple design i collected from an internet video. The comments are in spanish, but its easy to understand with all the pictures they use and there are several variations on the theme if you search in youtube:

Jaime,

That looks an efficient dryer! I am sure you will dry your figs nicely.
It is recommendable for sake of quality, to let the fruit loose most of its moisture and in % terms,  fresh  figs should loose approx 70 to 75% of its weight.
Syrupy fruit are most difficult or almost impossible to be dried properly.
For some reason Quarteira figs cannot be fully dried and although being excellent in every respect, do not make a good dried fig .

On some Med countries farmers pre-cut the fruit in halves and/or smash it with hand pressure, to ease drying under the sun. Never seen these systems put into practice in my area.

The majority of the fig industries dealing with sizable tonnage, stop using the direct sun drying long time ago and have put in to practice simple systems continuously blowing hot air (65ºC approx) through wooden trays with the fruit. The air may be heated up in coils where hot water continuously passes

In Morocco seen this system packed inside a 20' discarded shipping container and utilizing solar heated water as well as diesel for the night operation

Francisco

Thanks for the info on drying, Francisco.

My Figo Preto de Torres Novas dries quite well in that dryer.
In fact, two years ago, the problem was that we left them in the dryer and didn't check them for 3 days. They passed the optimum point and dried too much.

A few photos of drying figs in various stages:

       

A couple more days and the first batch of my Figo Preto of Torres Novas will be ready. It's a fig that has lots of moisture but, with care, it dries quite well.

thank you for the great pictures and all the information.
its great to learn about new ways of doing things.

What beautiful figs! Magnificient!

Thanks, Mallory. I like them very much.

those look amazing