I now have a Brown Turkey, Alma, and LSU Purple.  I like the LSU Purple best but am looking for a smaller fig tree variety that meets these specific requirements:  

TREE HARDY IN: Central Texas (San Marcos area)
TREE SIZE: Small.  Six to eight feet max when grown outside
SKIN COLOR: Dark purple to black
SKIN THICKNESS: Thin
FLESH COLOR: Dark red
FRUIT FLAVOR: Sweet with rich flavor
FRUIT SIZE: Medium to large
FRUIT EYE: Closed is preferred
BREBA CROP: Would be nice but not a requirement

Varieties that come to mind are:
Petite Negri
Petite Negronne
Little Miss Figgy
Sals
Noire de Caromb
Papa John
Purple Smyrna
Sultane
Violette de Bordeaux

I just don’t have enough information to know which fig variety will give me reliable production and have all the properties I’m looking for.  I don’t have the space for another large tree.  So, it will need to be a small to dwarf variety.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Lsu thibodeaux is a small bush compaired to other fig trees. Give you a little work getti g one but not to bad but worth the trouble

VdB and hardy chicago will work.  You'll need to prune the tree to the height you want it.  No fig tree will stay 6 or 8 feet forever.

I am told that Ventura is a "Bush" fig.  I don't know yet.  My 2 trees (1 in pot, 1 in ground) look like all the rest as to size.  I am letting both go to see if they actually are "Bush" type trees.

Good Morning,

As mentioned above pruning is really the only way your going to get a fig tree to stay a reasonable size.

HC and Sultane grow very well here.  I cannot comment on taste, as this will be the first year for me to try them.  

My VdB's grow slower than those two, and honestly my Vista's out preform the VdB's.  The Vista's are loading with figlets, and a few breba, where the VdB's are just starting to show signs of maybe pushing figlets, same age, same everything.

I can't comment on the others, I don't have them.

Good Luck

VDB has fruit on the small side and the skin is not thin like you want, but the tree is not a vigorous large tree.  It can be kept small, but so can they all!  Aggressive pruning will keep figs small.
Suzi

After thinking about it your requirements for medium to large...your leaving out a whole lot of great figs such as RdB, St. Rita, Tacoma Violet, etc, 

These also have grown well but not as well as HC, Vista, Sultane and this will be the first year to possibly taste them:

Scott's Black
Kathleen's Black
Col de Dame Noir
Bourgassotte Noire
Black Greek

Hi Norm,

If you want quick results, a couple of years ago, I purchased a five foot Celeste from home Depot in North Austin. It is not the same as the Celeste that Lowe's was selling at that time. Even the trunk color is different than the other Celeste. For its size, it is a still my most reliable producer for two years in a row. This tree is in a pot and I have not pruned it once yet plus it does not show any winter damage as other varieties do.
It should meet all your requirements except for one. It is very sweet but the flavor is not even close to a Black Madeira or a Col DE Dame (Late Figs) for example.
If I was a risk taker and I had all the time in the world (since it is a very slow grower for me), I would get a Black Madeira and worry about the height later.
The flavor is worth the wait.

Thanks for all the quick suggestions.  They will give me some varieties to research.  My Brown Turkey has a reasonable breba crop on it now.  They are still very green but approaching full size.  I trim it every year to about 5 or 6 feet high and wide.  It quickly grows back to 8 feet as it is now.  I can pick 10 figs every couple of days from it in the peak season.

I eat some figs directly from the tree but make fig butter from the others.  The LSU Purple makes sweeter and more colorful preserves.

My Alma fig is a very hardy tree with thicker branches compared to the other two.  However, the fruit is rather pasty in texture, small, and uninteresting in color.  It has not been a good producer yet. It will be three years old this year and I'm hoping for a better crop.  If not, I'll replace it with another variety.

My knowledge of the LSU Purple is from my neighbor's tree.  Mine is young and only a couple of feet tall.  My neighbor's is at least 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide.  I'm not sure how aggressively they prune it.  I picked a gallon of figs from it in one day last year.

I like the suggestion to allow the smaller fig fruits in my search and decision.  The fruit size is not that important to me and considering the smaller figs will give me more options.  I do want a fig with thin skin and juicy red pulp.

Some of the suggestions above have a thicker skin than I'd like according to the pictures I see on the Internet.  I'm leaning toward the Violette de Bordeaux.  Does anyone have experience with this fig?  It seems to have all the traits I'm looking for.

Hi Nel5500,
Here if you're looking for a dark fig with small height , you're hitting "Pastiliere" or "Rouge de Bordeaux" ( not the same as rdb as in Ronde de Bordeaux).
I'm still evaluating "Pastiliere" - and it is known for dropping some figs ... Which mine did last year - but the tree was bought in April 2014 - so I'll see this year how it performs.

As for "Sultane", I'm still evaluating it but for sure it is a huge tree . "Sultane" is supposed to be bifera ... Heck, I've got one breba this year on the tree for now... That's getting my sick to be honest .

If you would be looking for brownish figs, I would have advised to go for "French Goutte d'or" or "Madeleine des deux saisons" from the Brunswick family of strains . Them both are known to be small sized trees with big figs.

There are other dark strains, but most of them will give you huge trees like rdb . Pruning helps keeping them on check, but that means that you're loosing a part of the crop ...

The Rouge de Bordeaux doesn't seem to be available here in the USA.  They seem to be common in the UK where growers recommend them as indoor plants.  Maybe, because of the climate difference between here and there.  Also, the picture I found of a cut fruit makes it look like the skin is a little thicker than I'd like.  Still, it looks interesting and I'd probably buy one for a patio plant if I can find one.  I did find a site that sells seeds.  I've never tried growing figs from seeds.

VdB is a great tasting fig and may have skin flavor that's better than any other.  The skin here is very thin but skins tend to get thicker in desert areas.  VdB skin tastes something like concord grape.  It's good to get some early croppers, some mid and some late.

Thanks for the additional input.  I'm definitely leaning toward the Violette de Bordeaux.  I'll replace my Alma with it this fall if the Alma doesn't do significantly better than it did last year.  I wouldn't be so particular about color except that I like to make preserves and brown or amber colored preserves just don't have the appeal sitting on the table that reddish purple has.

Hi Norm!

Where are you located?  I don't see it anywhere in this thread.  VDB is definitely a cool weather fig.  It wilts in heat.  We live in hot weather, so I know.  Our winters are not so cold.  Rare snow.  VDB never went dormant this winter.  Her breba crop is slim, but she is covered in main crop figs.  We have two of this variety in different spots on our property.  Both are shrubby and not trees at all, but that's due to pruning.  We could have chosen one trunk and snipped off all the suckers, but we didn't do that.

I find it to be a really dry, not juicy, but flavorful fig.  It's skin is very thick here.  If you are in cooler weather it may perform better for you.  I think it's great on the BBQ!   I LOVE Alma fresh, sweet and juicy, but no intention of doing preserves.

I just walked out and snapped this shot for you.  This is the main crop on one of her many branches.
 
Suzi
PS  I have one that you should get, but I know you won't.  Norman's Yellow.

Thanks for the picture.  It always helps to see pictures. 

I'm located in Central Texas.  Not desert but does get over 100 degrees F for several days each summer.  I viewed a YouTube video of VdB that a guy had made in Tuscon AZ.  He also said the fruit would get dry if he didn't pick them when they first ripened.  I'm hoping that our slightly cooler and wetter climate will prevent them from drying on the tree.  I find that I can pick figs as they ripen and freeze them until I get enough for making preserves or fig butter.  I'm disappointed to hear that your VdB has a thick skin.  Does climate play a part in skin thickness?

I researched the Norman's Yellow.  It gets good reviews but doesn't have the color I want and seems like it is difficult to find.