Was patiently waiting for my Old Brooklyn Italian to ripen this fig.  It really started to get huge about a week and a half ago; like the size of a small pear.  It was getting softer too.  Mmmmmmmm.... I can't wait!  The tree looked a little droopy after this week of warm weather here in NY so I gave it a little bit of water after the sun went down yesterday.  Here is what I found this morning.  Is it done?  Should I just pick it?  There is another one just as big with the same split right behind it.

 

Danny,
  I've had a couple of figs do that (here in NJ) over the last couple of weeks.  The outcome was varied.  At least one tasted perfectly fine.  Some tasted a bit fermented -- not really sour, but just not quite right.  I was traveling and let some sit on the trees a few days longer than I would have, so I think that contributed to it.  They were getting overripe...which I think would have been OK if they weren't split;  but since they were split they were starting to go bad.  One was sour enough that I spit it out and didn't finish it.  Many of them only tasted "off" near the exposed split -- the farther you got from the split, the better they tasted.
  It is a gamble.  If you pick it and eat it underripe, you know you won't be happy.  If you let it ripen, there's a chance it will be great and a chance it will be a little "off", and a chance it will be downright sour.
Jim

Our Battaglia's figs split like this sometimes. I have left it on the tree until its soft without it spoiling and I have also picked some and left them on the kitchen counter for days until they ripened up and they haven't spoiled there either. Cant say this is universally true for all circumstances.

Jim & Rich - Thanks for the input.  Seems like a gamble.  Since there's two like this I'll pick one and leave the other.  We'll see what happens.

Danny,
I feel for you.  I have been playing this game with my Dalmatie and not doing very well.  Once the fig splits ants are coming around.  For split figs I left whether it is the ants or exposure to the environment the opening will start to brown and will develop mold and rot will set in.
Also ripening seems inhibited when the fig splits so it doesn't ripen properly.
When I see a split fig I pick it and salvage what I can.  The remaining figs will get more energy from the plant and hopefully ripen faster.
The splitting of course depends on the variety and also it seems the cool weather screws up the ripening process.  I don't think watering is the issue I think the cold nights, hot days is a bigger problem.  Whats a fig to do?

Glad I picked 'em!  Wow!  Really about the size of a small pear.  Both of them were split badly (Hid from camera).  Taste was excellent.  Medium berry flavor, very juicy but not watered down.  Skin was soft and easy to bite.  Hardly any seed crunch.  Light foggy aftertaste.  Good texture through and through.  Delicious up to the stem!

                     

Hi Danny,

What was the source of your Old Brooklyn Italian?  There are some 2 year old posts on the forum that show some green figs like yours, and Jon's database indicates a purple fig, but not a lot of other info on it.  I have a small plant grown from cuttings from Jon last winter, but no figs on the plant this year. 

Kind of a generic name...could be multiple varieties floating around with same name.  Yours looks good!

Ed - I think you're right about OBI being a generic name.  I'm sure there's many more varieties out there with the same name.  This came to me as OBI through a trade with a F4F member late last year.  I asked the person that I traded with and she said she got it as a cutting from eBay.  

When I received it, it was a small dormant bare rooted stick.  Didn't really expect much but I have to say I'm more than impressed.  I potted it last winter and it's been up-potted 3x since then.  Now it's in a 20 gal nursery pot and loving it.  It leafed out like crazy and grew to over 7 feet by the end of the summer.   What really shocked me was the amount of figs that it put on for a first year tree.  I removed at least 20 and left another 25-30.  I really didn't think that it would produce a ripe fig this year but man was I wrong.  Delicious too.  This one is a keeper and definitely going in-ground.

Just looked on eBay.  Here is the guy that she bought them from last year.  He's currently selling them.  The description obviously came from the F4F variety database.  

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EIGHT-Mature-Old-Brooklyn-Italian-Fruit-FIG-TREE-Cuttings-GROW-YOUR-OWN-PLANT-/371164232413?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item566b1cbadd

I would order this from Ebay but $32 is a little steep for cuttings. He says he sends 8 cuttings. Anyone want to split that? I'll have it shipped to me and then I can also trade some of my other varieties. PM me if interested.

Aaron - If you want to wait until my tree goes to sleep there should be a few cuttings that I can give you. Have to trim it down a little before putting away and it looks like everything is going to harden off. Just remind me in November.

Had a few more tonight

     

     

There were slightly more ripe and one was a few grams heavier than the last ones which split.  Berry flavor on these were just a hint stronger than the last and these were much juicier; the large cavity was filled with juices.  Pulp was a little more red, too.  Seed crunch and texture was the same.  Real easy to bite into.