There was a recent thread on dried figs... and everybody ragged on how they don't taste as good as fresh picked. I haven't tried it (yet) but I have read elsewhere that frozen figs retain their fresh taste very well. It makes me wonder why I haven't seen frozen figs offered for sale anywhere. It seems like there would be a market. That got me to thinking about what frozen figs I'd like to see on the market.

What I would like to see is some fig farmer with several varieties put together a sampler of different tasting figs so I, and other newbies, could find out what we're bidding big bucks for without having to wait several years for cuttings to grow up. Put in some of the best (CdD, JH Adraitic, RdB) and one or two of the really common (BT, Black Mission) to compare them to. Maybe a half dozen figs of each variety, enough so the wife and kids can get a taste too. This would be a service to the community because it would help us justify what we're doing to less enthusiastic members of the family.

There are Styrofoam shipping containers that would keep them cold for shipping. I know that it would be a lot of work to put them together but you could ask a premium price, and I think you'd get it. I know it would be worth a lot to me to be able to give a taste test answer to why I'm bidding that much for a couple of sticks.

Anybody else think it's a good idea? 

no thanks. i tried frozen berries and didn't like them much. tho, they were ok when ran through blender and made into smoothie. i like the experience of pick the fig myself and eating it right there. if i have to wait, i'll wait. 

i think harvey was looking into ways to ship fresh figs on demand. it would be expensive, but it demand is high enough, it might be possible to send fresh figs overnight. i know they do that with crayfish and lobsters. 

Tom, I had stored over ripe figs in zip-locks in freezer chest, after 3 years they tasted just as good with the exception of some minor skin texture change. But overall it was so good to have fresh frozen figs to snack on.
I heard from a fellow forum member that Trader Joes has fresh frozen figs ? I am going to find out today.

One of the things I learned as a kid, growing up in LA, was that no fruit from the store, with a few exceptions like bananas and pineapples, compared with what came fresh from the tree. so when I moved out on my own, the first priority in looking for a house was "dirt" on which to grow fruit trees. Now, mind you, I grew up in a family where we had fresh fruit, we froze fruit, we canned fruit, we made jams and jellies, etc. All of those forms of preservation had their place and were useful for a variety of reasons, and in their own way were tasty. I love dried fruits, candied fruits, chocolate covered fruits, etc., but, in the end, very few, if any, taste as good as fresh.

Just saw Aaron's other post on this at http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/turkish-figs-t-j-frozen-section-6883966 - they look great!

i'll have to try that from TJ. maybe try to germinate the seeds also.

Okay, that's all good input. Like I said I haven't tried it. I didn't expect them to taste exactly like fresh. Even pineapples, when I grew them in Fla., tasted better "off the tree". But I've tasted pineapples "airlifted in" and the problem seems to be in how green they're picked, not in how they travel. A lot of the taste in figs depends on when they're picked, where they were grown, how old the tree was, which nursery the stock came from, and, and, and... so, no, I don't expect perfection, but still, some kind of a taste comparison is better than none. And, I live out in God forsaken nowhere where nobody grows figs that I can sample.

One problem is keeping them frozen long enough to ship. Salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh. You can freeze salt water in a zip-loc and have a freezer pack that will keep them colder longer. There are answers to some questions.

One question was "how do they freeze?", and I'm getting different answers to that. Everyone seems to be saying that the answer to the question of whether it would be worth doing is no. Another parade called for rain.