i don't care for strong hop signature. i know hop is a big deal with lot of home and micro brewers. i prefer the maltness in the beer. when hop and malt are balanced properly drinking beer is very enjoyable experience. but when hop is pushed to the limit.. oh well.. that's a sipping beer and beer was never meant to be a sipping beverage. prefer good ale over lager. but, i do enjoy good aromatic/finish hop. just don't want to taste too much bitterness.

 I ate my first fresh home grown fig 4 years ago , it tasted like a blueberry to me, another one I ate tasted like honey, I even ate one that tasted like a peach.I just started to collect and still do not know what a fig taste like? I seems to me they taste like every other kind of fruit and that is the reason for my fig addiction, looking for the true fig flavor.

Wait till you taste Panache, then see what you think.  I had a St Rita today - my first.  It was a cut above VdB.  I don't know how Rita will perform in adverse weather because we've had perfect weather in the last few weeks.

bob, this yr, lot of things are not as they should be. my Genovese Nero doesn't even look like Genovese Nero. my VdB, even after being allow to winkle and dry on the tree doesn't look and taste like it should. i have two St. Rita that i rooted. i hope next yr will bring better results... 

I've had 4 Hardy Chicago so far.  2 were limp, wrinkly and fell off the tree at the slightest touch.  2 were limp but hard to pull off the tree.  The less ripe ones were dark red inside with mildly sweet pith but were pretty generic tasting  The ones which stayed longer on the tree were much better.  Could you be picking them before they develop their best flavor?

Rc he mentioned he has been drinking since he was 3 years old im sure he is pretty lopsided (drunk) by now.  ; )
Now that Rafed fella ......... well he will eat any ole type of fig  even if it looks like a fig but not a fig.
and
Jon P - well he goes to UcDavis orchard with Dennis and what does he do - he throws them at Dennis.
Just hope the wasted ones he threw where all paleface types.
What a bunch we have on this forum.
All in fun.  ; )

In this case, I don't think it's an issue of picking them before they develop their best flavor.  If anything, VdB has a strong reputation for being good before it's all wrinkly, and my PN bears that out.  Early PN and late PN do not taste as good as peak production PN, favoring either a distinct flat and not very complex strawberry taste or watermelon taste.  It's pretty strongly likely that it's just a bad season + youth of tree.

@Shah not to belabor the pomegranate side talk... but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I would say the broad overview has not been done but has begun with Dr. Levin's priceless additions to us here in the US. The US germplasm on pomegranates begins to skim the surface I'd say but only that as does their fig UC Davis germplasm collection. Jon's collection on figs is amazing and rapidly expanding--there's no such poms 4 fun equivalent collections in the US for pomegranates. Our pom collection was given a big jolt by Dr. Levin's select favorites from his 1000+ legendary collection from Turkmenistan and that is pretty much the backbone of the germplasm here. Wonderful is good but that's about as high as I'd rate it except grown under the most ideal conditions/with excellent full ripening.

Dr. Levins I think are truly amazing finds and the man's story is legendary. I wish I could meet him. However, there's no real question that majority of the world's best poms are still not here. The academic pom germplasm alone in Iran for example is 1000+ and their central collections are very, very far from complete as well... it's not very organized over there for locals to easily mail in their winners...

If you go pomegranate touring in Iran it may change your mind. The original 1000+ collection of Dr. Levin doesn't seem to have much overlap with Iran's collection either as if I read right in his book he lamentably wasn't able to go into mainland Iran at all which I think was one of his biggest regrets. In fact Garigal borders northern Iran.  While Saveh in the north is very well known for its pomegranates they are typically more well known for large fruit size and the best fruit quality actually comes from the a little further south Yazd and then all the way south in Fars you begin to get some out of the out of this world stuff. Even in Yazd it is pretty insane. Of course lots its climate based but some of the cultivars are quite special too. The one thing Iran has been blessed with I'd say is incredible fruits of diverse types because of the ancient origins of fruit in the Middle East coupled with the diverse and idealized microclimatic variation due to mountains and covering a very broad latitude that's prime for growing out of this world pears and cherries etc in the north all the way down to dates in the south with diverse citrus, white apricots, sour cherries, figs etc. scattered throughout (south-north orientation of country seems prime for so many different fruit types no wonder so many fruit is native there).

The Iranian cultivars sent from ?Esfahan? in the ?70s/80's? to the US--the old Iranian pomegranate growers I trust (there seem to be at least one possibly fraudulent merchant) seem to think those few Iranian cultivars are extremely limited/poor selections... I am happy to grow Entekhabi Saveh for its cold hardyness however though in my climate and am quite excited about him! But I would not think that's a good represenative of the collection there... Academics sometimes work a little different than hobbyist collectors both in the US and the academics in Iran. The genetic diversity and ancientness of the Iranian germplasm is I would say effectively 100% untapped and sorely missed by those that have seen it in action. Same with white apricots, dates, grapes, figs, and a lot of stuff. I can safely say I know what I'm missing... but definitely lots of it is indeed climate.

I've been lucky enough to visit a southeast (Florida) pom test site too and they have many exciting unknown dooryard/backyard finds sent in to them and they are testing out a ton of the more cold hardys that we have such limited fruit quality and performance data on in the east coast. I'd say trialing poms in the east coast is much more unchartered than trialings figs on the east coast. Great that more ppl are interested in mass trialing poms in East coast climates.

BTW you mentioned India and we're already way off topic...so--a legitamite Alfonso mango properly ripened over there (not the imported stuff I've had here)--is on my personal top 5 best fruit in the world list. My grandpa tried to grow a seedling in Iran and it croaked :(.

I am honestly happy to inspire responses like these.

By the by, it wasn't just in my yard that was a terrible season for figs.  Orchard a mile or two NW has the same issue with spoiling figs that are anything like ripe.  BT and Bordeaux variant (PN?, single and seven lobes, typically larger fruit, but darker green, smaller, thicker and sandpapery leaves).

had a good dinner.. after CdDB.. salmon baked in 1:1:1 of honey, red wine vinegar, and virgin olive oil with whole seed mustard and some dill. then few pints of boddington and some coke and rum. life is good. well.. i started drinking when i was 3. believe it or not, they thought it was funny to get me drunk when i was 3 at my father's under classmen's pool. yesh.. those were the days.. nothing was politically correct and life was good. i would drink bottle or so of beer and imitate some tv show. lived whole summer in pool. i loved it. my taste for beer developed back then and it never stopped. love beer.. always have and always will. tho, i hope my kids don't drink and smoke. i do both and they are nasty habits. i hope they learn better things in life, like growing things. 

they are both learning that growing things are worth doing. my older son wants blackberry or pom. i'll make sure to get both for him in the spring. life is much better spent looking at things growing then sitting down by front porch smoking it away like i do.. tho i love smoking. 

Be careful, Pete, I've been down the rabbit hole with strudeldog about poms.

Although practically speaking, if you got into poms, you'll have to give away more fig plants...While grafting can help, I suspect you'll still need at least two distinct bushes for enough production.

Good thread.

Most of my figs are also young, and while there is some range of taste (w the dark ones generally having more intense flavor) I also have concluded that they all generally taste like ...well... figs. Of course there are still many of them that I have not yet tasted.

I've had a few I thought have been insipid, but I think it's difficult to grow figs for full rich flavor in pots when they get watered frequently. Fortunately here, when they get large enough, I'll be able to plant 'the keepers' in the ground, water them less, and as time passes, flavor will keep improving.


There was a little fig, and it had a little fruit
Right in the middle of its canopy;
When it was good, it was very, very good,
But when it was bad, it was horrid.

hey gina, haven't seen you in awhile :) or i just haven't notice you posts :) i do need to plant mine in ground... i heard they will do better that way. i got green from my wife to do so, but.. urght.. i hate digging ground as much are running around for exercise.. 

alan, i had CdDB today. it was like no other. but i had other 9 this yr which were more or less like each other. sure, Paradiso Gene, and Kathleen's Black stood out.. so did White Greek, RdB, and  Longue D'Aout.. but in their core, they weren't all that different. i can taste the difference... it's not that i have dead taste buds. i can pick out different herbs in KFC chicken.. the point is that the core taste in majority of figs are same.. even in CdDB there is that similarity.. but there was something more pronounced. something extra that says "i'm CdDB and hear me roar!". but not from others. this doesn't mean any other figs are less figs. i just prefer figs that will yell at me saying "i'm unique. notice me!". so far.. only 4 fit that bill for me. VdB, Paradiso Gene, CdDB, and RdB. 

VdB, when the condition is right, will have strong raspberry taste. it's so strong that you will take a moment to savor the taste. 

Paradiso Gene has that honey flavor missed with nuttiness, and that something else that will make you go 'ahhhh.. ". it's so comfortable. 

CdDB.. is step above VdB. it has more than just that berry flavor. it has that complex flavor i got from Paradiso Gene on top of VdB. 

RdB.. oh boy.. it was Paradiso Gene x 1,000. i mean.. there was no other fruit flavor.. but that complex flavor was so strong.. it stopped me in the middle of eating it to just wonder what it was.. but it was one fig. 

there were other figs that were as good as above 4, but they just stood out among others. Kathleen's Black.. if RdB next yr comes back with what i had from that one single fig.. not sure if it would be worth keeping. White Greek and Longue D'Aout.. same situation. Ischia White.. so far I can live without it. Paradiso Gen can out perform and provide better fig then Ischia white and Green. 

Calvert.. now, there is a more interesting problem. the first fig was so perfect. the subsequent figs were not. first fig had the super tartness. others were more of Ischia Green. i'll have to see what happens. 

the differences are there. there is no question about that. there are hundreds of known cultivar of figs. i just tasted less than 10. maybe it's just that i have not experienced enough yet :)