So far the start of the fig season in the Deep South of Louisiana has gone very well. It's been extremely hot and relatively dry, until last week. Now it seems the regular summer thunderstorms are here to stay. No complaints, as last year was a terrible year for figs. As you can see in the subsequent photos these particular varieties are quite tolerable to rain and humidity.

I started picking early season cultivars on June 14th. Most of the early to midseason varieties are starting to hit their stride and the figs will be coming on fast and furious. My Celeste tree began pumping out figs about 5 days ago and I've been picked about a gallon and half daily. I use Celeste mainly for fig jam and fig preserves. If time permits this weekend I'm going to make fig pepper jelly. I've made it with blackberries and blueberries, but never figs. I hope it turns out well.

Here are some pictures of a handful of the early ripening figs in my orchard. As the season progresses I'll update this thread with more pictures of ripe fruit from different varieties. Seemingly a good amount of people on the forum are growing in a similar or comparable climate to mine I will offer my humble opinion on flavor profiles, plant vigor and productivity for each cultivar listed ;).

Of those pictured below the stand-outs are; Thibodaux, Dr. Gowaty, St. Rita, Red Lebanese and Malta Black. The perfectly ripe Malta Black figs were far and away the best so far in this early season.

I hope everyone has a wonderful growing season!

All the best,
Charles

LSU Thibodaux-





3.5 ounces!


Natalina-





RdB-




LSU Scott's Yellow-





LSU Gold-




O'Rourke-





Nero600M-





Dr. Gowaty-







Champagne-




St. Rita-






Red Lebanese Bekka Valley-





Malta Black-







Mix Lot- Dr. Gowaty, Champagne, Marseille, Negronne @ LSU Gold

Looks awesome! I know you are enjoying those . Thanks for the pics...

Very nice figs !
Congratulations

Francisco

Those are wonderful!  Very nice indeed Charles.  I would love to hear more about the fig pepper jelly and how it turns out.   

they look amazing thanks for sharing ………..

Thanks for sharing :)

Very nice photos! Thanks for sharing.
It is interesting that all your green/yellow (not dark) figs are light inside, not strawberry.

beautiful figs and photos!

That Dr. Gowaty looks tasty!! How was that one??? Very nice job on the pics!

Great pictures, great place to be growing figs, thank you.

One of the most educational threads. Thank you. It's nice to see what these varieties look like. Your pictures are beautiful!
What camera is your preference?

Nice presentation, thanks for all the pictures.

Charles, Any standouts for you? I am also curious about Dr. Gowaty, a nice looking yellow fig that doesn't seem to get brown spots at ripeness.

Mike in Hanover, VA

Soooo Jealous   :)

Wonderful photos.  Thanks for posting your beautiful harvest.


Frank

Thanks Charles, super photos and tasty looking figs.

That Dr Gowaty does look good.  And that Malta Black too!

Thanks for the pics.. though I'm very jealous now.. lol

To all members, this is when you pick figs, not sooner.  I know there is pest pressure but Charles knows how and when to harvest his crop.  The taste is exponentially better when they are this ripe.

Malta black looks great, like jam. Looking forward to having my own soon.

Charles,

Your figs look excellent.  The photographs are very good quality.  I like that you let the figs get fully ripe before harvesting them.  Congrats on your success!

Hey guys/gals, thank you for the kind comments :).

The stand outs so far from this bunch are Dr. Gowaty, St. Rita and Malta Black. I'm going to let the next batch of Thibodaux, Red Lenanese and Nero600M hang from the tree a few more days. I had to pick them that day because I was heading out of town.

-Hands down though Malta Black was the clear winner. The taste was as if you would cook strawberry jam and let it reduce to deepen and intensify the flavor.

-St. Rita also tasted of a high quality berry jam. I think another day or two left of the tree, would have put it neck and neck with MB.

-Dr. Gowaty, is a fig that has been in my family for 60+ years. My grandparents who lived in northern Alabama recieved it from their neighbor Dr. Gowaty. Mr. Gowaty was orginally from Israel and he'd often take vacations there to visit with family and friends. He ultimately brought back cuttings of a tree that was growing on his families property. The flavor is sweet like honey with berry undertones. It has particularly large seeds with a good crunch that adds a bit of nuttiness. I tend to like varieties with large seeds.

-Also to me O'Rourke if allowed to ripen properly is an amazing fig that is very underrated. It's not a rare or heavily sought after variety, but if you have the room this fig will never disappoint. It resists rain extremely well, while the flavor never gets washed out or diluted and pumps out a bountiful crop even at an early age.

Marie, I'll keep you posted on the fig pepper jelly.

Gene, when I get back into town I'll be sure to send you the recipe for the blackberry pepper jelly. Like you I had an abundant crop of blackberries this year and had quite a lot left after making blackberry jelly. A good friend of mine gave me a jar of her blackberry pepper jelly and I was hooked.

Leon, these photos were taken on my iPhone5. However, my main camera is a Nikon D40 with a Nikkor 55-300mm lens.

All the best,
Charles

My favorite honey fig: Marseille-

Maybe you could post the blackberry pepper jelly recipe here - others of us are looking forward to it also!

Beautiful!!!

Keep the photos coming Charles, they are outstanding and keep us posted on future pickings.