My oldest fig tree has 1st fig coming along nicely turning nice and dark, soon i eat it, here is another picture of 1 just starting to sweel and turn. Darn hole is big enough for a yellow jacket type bee to fit through!

Martin, how big is the fig ? Nice looking one. I have Vicenzo which resemble yours. It weighs around 75 gms. Perhaps we can swap cuttings to find out. Its a keeper for me.

My biggest last year was 4.5 ounces or about if math is near correct about 125 grams?
But that was big usually there a little smaller im not sure of weight though as i amuse myself by weighing the big guys, as you are fisherman its like catching small crappie but when you catch big 1 one gets curious and weighs it, course in your case you get big salmon and trout up there all the time!
My biggest from diversy rocks fishing 9 o'clock at night on shore  south end of lake michagan with a ounce and a quarter lure that i had stuck glow in the dark tape and would use camera flash to activate it real nice was a 21 pound salmon after the lone guy fishing near me gaffed it and milked it then weighed it. I was about 2o years old at the time and never caught a fish near that size but i have not gone to downtown chicago along the lakefront in many years there is meter parking there now that litterly cost an arm and a leg and just gopt more expensive since the city leased it out to a private company that jacked up the price much to much.

Herre is ripe fig picture as it was cut in half and daughter and i enjoyed it, just shy of 1/4 pound at 106 grams, i asked her to describe taste and she said not as sweet as last year and had a faint watermelon taste.
Also here is inside of fig from last season which was sweeter but lacked the melon taste. Hold mouse over picture to read " from last season"

Paully i sent regular mail to you.

Martin, mail received. Thanks.

Paully

Martin
The 2nd picture in the top post is the darkest fig I have ever seen and it looks pretty. Not a bad Zone 5 there. Good luck for more ripe figs.

Ottawan, when left on in full sun this tree gives real dark figs, i never say check out this black fig for i never seen a real true pure black fig yet, there is always a purple tinch to it when held in pure sunlight with hand.
This one was close though but still had a slight dark purple tinch when i held it in hand .
Also i dont think i snapped a picture but this one lone fig was at the very tip of the tree and was able to capture all the sun, i picked it a day or to early because i could tell it was heavy and was afraid it would simply go splat if it were to fall which it might of if i left it on too long.
Now i have another thats getting more near all the time and there still for me exciting to watch on this tree even though it leaves much more figs unripe than ripe before frost hits, probably in the 70% range each year. I did try oiling 1 year before the hole got to big, as the hole expands quite a bit the more riper it gets and it worked on a lot of them but the taste was bland.
Even singing does not help as neighbor laughed one day saying "oh so thats how you do it"

Martin it is a PROVIN SCIENTIFIC FACT that plants and trees respond to singing.

I am not sure if it will be too much to surround/cover this plant with a mega-size clear plastic (garbage) bag with some small holes on top to get 99+% ripe yield. I may try on one of my plants. Since it is a nice day, I may just do it today. One has to watch before the tree gets cooked in hot sun.

Sal, you very right its proven , i mentioned that in the other post from Bass thread fig fetish, it just does not help me with this tree and oiling is what i meant. The oiling simply does not wotk on this type very well. Course perhaps with practice your singing can improve ...   ; )
or a radio !
Ottawan, i could fit a huge bag over it but eh naw i just let it go its course but i do go the exta mile in early spring.
I would surely cook it as this one drinks a lot of water compared to my others, maybe it has something to do with the size of the figs it bears as all my others are smaller types.
Hey if you try it let us know how much of difference it makes for you .Last season i even tried late in year wheeling it in and out of the garage to protect from cold night temps and more of the figs did ripen but they taste not good but i gave it a try to see . Who knows maybe 1 year i try the cover not thid year though, shoot im going to have to start throwing and moving this an garage very soon to see actually how much room i have to store them, worse comes to worse i might have to move a few small pots up high somehow.

Sorry  to hear the oil method didn't work for you. I remember family members doing this decades ago even my uncle recently mentioned this but I don't think he goes to those extreme rates at his age anymore. My assumption would be that you would need to hit it at the right stage of growth and the weather would have to be somewhat cooperative for it to possibly give a few extra figs that would have been lost. Then again it could be an old myth, but I don't think so.  I believe these older die-hards know some tricks.  One last note he did say the taste is diminished. Give and take like everything else in life.