Oh, I mean photo shoot....

Had a good day with Jon and got the chance to meet Sue and Darcy today.  Too bad it got a little bit warmer than had been forecast, but enjoyed some nice figs.

Jon thinks he'll have the photos uploaded sometime with in the next year. :)

Harvey

! took close to 5000 pix yesterday and today, with a lot of help from Sue, Darcy, Frank and Henry. I think we covered all the varieties in the field collection, including leaf samples. We also spent a very profitable time with Malli, who is currently heading up the USDA Germplasm program at UC Davis. Yes, it will take a while to get all the pix prepared and uploaded. Had some good eating, as well. Maybe next year in Hawaii - for sampling the best tasting Brown Turkey figs on the planet?

Henry?  I didn't meet him! ;)

Jon, I wrote a friend about the problem that Sue, Darcy, and myself had with sore lips from the tasting.  He suspects it was an issue with latex if we tried too many figs that were a little bit unripe.  Since Sue, Darcy, and I were doing the picking of fruit today, we probabl also had more latex on our fingertips.  You, on the other hand, were mostly trying fruit that we were bringing to the king after you had sliced in half.  I suspect you didn't try very many figs that were unripe.

I've heard of similar problems for some people when eating jakfruit which also has latex issues.

My first time eating figs I ate a lot of unripe Brown Turkeys and my tongue started bleeding. I think it has less to do with the latex than the roughness of the premature skin.

I seriously doubt Jon would have eaten many (if any) unripe figs, once you get a taste for the super ripe shrively ones there's no going back.

Forrest, I ate numerous figs at Wolfskill too and had the same problem with bleeding lips and sore mouth as Harvey. In fact the first day there I had to stop taste-testing the figs almost immediately it was so bad.  Well, until we came across the Black Madeira. :-)

The irritation began within eating 5 or 6 fruit at the very beninning of the day. I don't eat the skin only the pulp. I do believe it was a reaction to the latex as some were not quite ripe but were soft enough to eat. Didn't stop me for long though, just picked and chose the ones I'd suffer to try...Black Ischia, Panachee, Marbout, Black Madiera, OK so it didn't really stop me. ;-)

The Brown Turkey's at Wolfskill were large, very watery and flavorless.

Sue

Hawaii?  I'm in.

The land of orchids, scuba diving and figs.  What could be better?

You know, I just remembered something from my childhood regarding the eating of figs. Grandma always said to never eat the figs fresh off the tree if they were hot but to bring them in and let them cool off. Maybe eating hot figs (it was near 100 degrees) in the field at Wolfskill is what caused the irritation of the mouth and lips.

The figs I brought back to the hotel and ate the next morning did not cause me any problems. The figs I brought home on the final day and ate also did not cause me any problems. It has to be that, eating the figs in the field while they were hot from the summer sun. Problem solved! I feel better now... :-)

Sue

It could be that when hot they cause that problem, or for some folks they just do that. I eat them right off my tree's with skin on 20 at a time on certain days though with none of those problems, but as one should i dont eat to close to  the stem. We used to sit under tree when young at granma's house and eat many more as here tree was in ground and very big.Maybe figs dont have that effect on me . But if bringing them indoors out of hot sun and not getting any ill effects for you thats just great.
Martin

The Golden State chapter of CRFG posted some comments on their blog about the public tasting last Saturday, saying Zidi seemed to be the favorite.  No mention of Black Madeira being tried.  http://crfggoldengate.blogspot.com/

I don't remember Zidi?  Jon, Sue, or Darcy: did you taste that on Tuesday??  What did you think?

I don't remember eating Zidi but my favorite was the Maribout x Smyrna and Black Ischia.

Sue

We canvassed that portion of the orchard the first day, Harvey. I defnitely ate Zidis! They are very large, dark purple, with very leathery skin, and juicy sweet, dark red interior with some acid balance. I had three off of my own tree this season, and hoping for a possuble 2 more. Rumor is they need caprification.

Thanks for showing me what I missed, Jon.  I can almost taste it! ;)

Jon,
You guys are always welcome to come and try the best tasting Brown Turkey's on the planet here in Kona. You just have to wake early and beat the chefs to the field!

Ken, I assure you I will be there one of these days.  Wish I could make it for the conference but chestnut harvest is getting in gear now.

One of these days harvey -- remind me later in the month -- after our conferences
to order chestnuts for my mother again.
She loved them!

Ed Stover will be at our conferences next week (24th)

gotta run, only 630 sunday morning but have a meeting at 7
ken

Harvey,

I had plenty of Zidi figs. They tasted very good and the tree is full and beautiful.  Every time I walked by the tree I thought, "What a beautiful tree."

My favorites from that trip were 143-36, Marnbout, Flanders, and of course, Black Madeira.

BTW, nice pics in the Fruit Gardener.......

Darcy:I want to say that You like kind of What I like:
I grow 143 -36,here in New Jersey toghether with other UCDAVIS hybrids and LIke this one the best.
I think in Ca.with dry climate is much better tasting.
Here it was red inside and very sweet,but I had only 2 fruits and i couldn't id,the flavor.
Can you explain how the flavor is.?
Thanks Anticipated

Thank Jon and Darcy for the info on Zidi.  Maybe it's one I'll have to try one of these days.  I just checked out Jon's info at http://figs4fun.com/Var_Z_Info.html and http://figs4fun.com/Thumbnail_Zidi.html.

Are you growing this one, Jon?

Darcy, the photos in the Fruit Gardener caught me when I was in a smiling mood! :)

Herman,

143-36 was a total surprise.  It was large, sweet and light (it didn't have a heavy texture).  I can't wait to get my own tree.

Harvey, seems to me you were smiling the day I met you...... must have been all the figs.

Yes, had 3 figs this year, and maybe will get one or two more.

Finally a fig I can comment on....well..

My 143-46 has not yet fruited for me (well it did form 3-4, but the squirrels took care of them well before ripening).  I can say that it is quite a good grower and the leaves have been mosaic free since the get-go. 

Leaves are big, strongly fingered and clean!

Hopefully next year I'll start taking out the (squirrel) competition so I can try this one!

~Chills