I bought a basket of Black Mission figs at my local market yesterday. After having just eaten a couple of my own home-grown figs a few days before, I was a little disappointed in their lack of flavor. However, they were OK, so I started snacking on them. I put a whole one in my mouth and started to chew. The flavor was so horrible it caused a gag reflex and I had to spit it out! I thought I was going to puke. What the fig? I grew up with a green/white fig tree in my back yard and I never tasted a bad fig in my life. Is this something to be expected from dark figs once in a while? It was so bad that I threw the remaining four figs to the chickens for fear of getting another stink bomb.

Sounds like they soured!  I had a couple Celestes last year that were questionable too.  These were from a local farmer's market.

Hmmmm.  I got some from Trader Joes and they were really good.  That was a year ago.  I ate a couple fresh, and BBQ'd the rest.  Yumm!  I now have my own Black Mission, so I'll be picking them fresh from now on.  Sorry about your bad experience.

Suzi

The figs I've gotten at my local farm markets or asian/latino groceries have hit all the taste points -- from fantastic to bland and unripe to soured.  I guess that's what you get, especially when they're picked from California or Mexico and shipped to NJ.
Jim

I Think FiggyFrank hit the nail on the head. When we were getting deluged by record rains a couple years ago I had quite a few soured figs, they really do make you feel like you're gonna hurl

I'm going to go out on a limb here and claim that my Anna's Unknown is completely resistant to that problem. I started eating figs from that tree when I was in diapers and in thirty years never tasted a bad one.

So Paul, you would put Anna's unknown up against Black Mission?  Wooooh!  That's kinda getting interesting.

I'd put Anna Apple up against Red delicious any day!

Suzi

Speaking of BAD figs, these were the worst I ever had in my entire life. Picked them up in my fav Korean market...Were disgusting, seriously...why can't these people at least taste what they are selling? Dry, leathery and blunt taste, I couldn't figure out what verity they were and the the guy who was arranging the produce wasn't very helpful either.

 

Hi cyberfarmer,
It is the problem with figs you buy.

Last year, my Mum bought some figs and the last ones where pig's food - I don't know even if pigs would have eaten them.
They were obviously dried from the transportation and conservation so leathery, dry, and rotten in the middle exposing some mold. But the ouside was sort of ok - except for my own eyes because when you grow them you can spot those future problems.

There was a thread about how to eat a fig last year, and I always do the same: I cut them in two and inspect the center of the fruit. I always do. If the center is bad especially with mold, then will the whole fig be bad, and I don't eat them full mouth but
taste bit by bit and give up if really too bad - this is true especially for the last figs before the winter sets in.

I told my mom : Stop throwing your money to the pigs ! and she stopped buying those figs. Those were figs imported from Turkey - Not blaming them for the bad figs, as it is a problem of general conservation of the figs.
This is a known problem: Figs do not resist to delay in delivery and transportation - the quality of the fruits decreases rapidly after the harvest ...
So let's grow those figs ourselves !

@Aaron4usa, that brown/mold stain on the outside of the fig is a bad sign.
I just had one fresh BT and one fresh ufti ... Hummm .

I think you are correct JD. It has nothing to do with the type of fig or whether it was picked too early or too late. It was just a fig that sat around too long after it was picked. The tree I grew up with never gave me a bad fig because they were usually eaten within seconds of being picked.

...but these figs were't sour or watery...they were just blunt, dry, leathery and plain awful...i wanted to throw them them back at the managers' face but had missed fresh figs and was darn hungry to do so, LOL And that brow mark was not mold but a sunburn and leathery. Tasted like Breba "wannabe" that never had seen a good day and no water.

At many markets you are allowed to sample, especially farmers markets. Can you ask to sample one before buying a bunch? Or buy just one, eat it, and then run away screaming or buy more ;)