I have seen some natural dried figs available in Trader's Joe Have anyone tried them before ? How does it taste ? Any advantage or disadvantage if compare to fresh Fig ?

I would say the difference is similar to comparing a grape to a raisin.  Personally I think dried figs are *%$^&.  But I do like them in fig newtons:)

I agree with Jo-Ann. I have tried many dried figs. They all seem about the same including Trader Joes. Of course, theres nothing like a fresh fig!

What do other people here do when you need a fig fix and there are no fresh figs?
I never liked fig newtons and because of them thought I didn't like figs. Just yesterday, I was getting fig hunger reading the posts on the fig boards and seeing the pictures of the ripe figs on eBay. So I finished off the last of Trader Joe's dried Calimyrna figs and they were great. The seal-able container keeps them juicy. Of course they're not as good as fresh figs. I like TJ's better than the dried figs in plastic packages from Sprouts that seem to be moldy or dried out. 

TJ's has some of the worst dried fruit I've ever had. 

Jenny and Galil has some of the best dried figs, with Jenny being superior. Also, the dried Pajarero fig is just as extraordinary as any good fresh fig. It's seriously one of the greatest.

 

 

Boy do I wish I were getting paid for this. Alright.
Reposted at the other forums. We should not have to go through life hating dried figs.

For me, a dried fig tastes nothing like a fresh fig, just like raisins taste nothing like grapes! 

I think we are more appreciative and do not take them for granted since they have a defined season, do not ship well, do not store well and do not freeze well.  Look at other produce - ships well, stores well, freezes well or has a year long growing season artificially or from the south as in South America.  30 years ago we actually had produce that was "in season", now that only happens if you grow it yourself - except for our favorite - FIGS! 

Unless you grew up with a fig tree in your backyard - like me, most people have never had one - fresh that is, only the dried figs that.... well you know my opinion on them.  They are expensive fresh and not available in all grocery stores, most people wouldn't spend the money to try one.  Maybe that's a good thing because the fresh figs in the grocery store are not always ripe!  One of the worst things to eat is a fig that is not ripe, like a mango.  I have introduced many people of the years to fresh figs.  I am in the food industry and many of the establishments I have worked in were more high end so they would buy fresh figs when in season - even then they weren't always ripe so I would check to see if was ripe and tasted good before I gave it to someone to try for the first time.

We look forward in anticipation for the first fig to ripen on our tree.  We check our tree(s) everyday - maybe we missed one the day before, and when it ripens we savor it and check once more time to see if there is another.  At the end of the season there is a sadness when we have the last fig from the tree, only dampened to know we will have even more next year.

What do I do when I need a fix?  Wait, nothing else to do.....

I agree about fresh figs for eating out of hand. There's nothing that's going to compare to a fresh fig. And from a chef's perspective, I feel like when it comes to fresh vs dried, they're two totally different ingredients and ought to be treated as such - similar to porcini mushrooms in that way, or tomatoes. 

I often cook with dried figs but I still have never had a cooked fresh fig that I thought was any good.

Still, I think some figs really become expressive when they're dried (like Pajarero) and some are a total disappointment dried (like Black Mission.)

The figs at TJ's are very variable.  If you see 6 packages of the same thing they won't taste the same.  Their dried Mission figs are uniformly terrible, even for a dried fig.  Their tubs of dried Conadria can be acceptable if they're big and plump.  If they're small they're no good.  Also, the paler the Calimyrna or Conadria the worse it is.

Dried figs . I ate a lot of them when i was a kid in the old coutry (Portugal). Because in winter that was the fruit we could store dry a long time. But it was nothing compared to the rippen figs picked from the fig tree. The differencence was huge.They dont even taste the same.Fresh figs are just great.Dried figs are very sweet and the flavour from the fres figs is lost.
Rio

dried some figs from paully really tasty do them yourself you get just the right quality. putting cuttings in the ground this spring my first foray into the fig world looking foreward to fresh figs.

I think if I dried/preserved them myself, I could enjoy them. Some dried figs arecway too dry for me. I will have to try the Jenny and Galil figs that Levar mentioned...and the Pajarero as well, for the record.