Some people in this forum are fig crazy for sure. I was wondering how everyone got into eating figs? Was it something you grew up with? Discovered at a friends or the farmers market? 

My story isn't as interesting as yours, but here goes.... When I was little, we lived in a couple of old rent houses in old neighborhoods in and around Houston. These neighborhoods probably dated from the turn of the last century and a lot of the trees and other vegetation was quite mature. In so many of the old neighborhoods, fig trees were very common (not so much anymore though).  We briefly lived in one very creepy house that had a back yard that was mostly a swamp. It wasn't usable at all except for right around the porch. But there was a massive fig tree that took up most of the back yard, and I don't know how it survived in soil so waterlogged. I don't remember the color of the figs because I was probably 5 or 6 at the time, but I recall wading through the mud and water to climb the tree and eat figs. I don't even remember how I knew at the time they were edible, but I remember just stuffing myself with ripe figs and feeding them to our little dog. 

Several years later we lived in another house in a really old neighborhood, and between our house and the neighbors house was another massive fig tree. This one was growing right outside my bedroom window. I still remember having the window up at night when the weather was nice and smelling the characteristic cat pee smell of the fig leaves. That fig was a large green one with red pulp, probably something like Green Ischia, but as I was only about 10 at the time I have no way of knowing what variety it was. There was another large fig tree in the back yard and it was a different variety, probaby something like Celeste.

I thought it was so neat to be able to just pick fruit off a tree and eat it, no bugs, no problems, and that the trees put on so much fruit. Of course the taste was like you describe--something new and different and wonderful. When I moved to this place in the early 80s, the first things I planted were figs. Mislabeled of course. Later found to be Green Ischia, Magnolia, and Black Misison. I don't know why I became so interested in collecting different varieties. People collect all sorts of different things, and I guess figs are my thing.

I keep it short .

I grew up eating them very young when in season on Sundays in Chicago at grandmother's house she had a dark type .
It was buried for winter every season .

Dad used to bring home many as well from the Italian club when in season.

Ahh memories... It was 2004 at Fort Bragg NC on the south side of my WW2 era barracks.
I asked my buddy, "What is that?" (excitedly).
He goes "It's a bush" lol.
I said "it is different though, I have never seen one like that before"
he said "you're weird, have fun crawling around in a bush" (or something like that).
I found a ripe fig and ate it, I then picked every fig I saw and eventually figured out that they were mostly unripe :(
No-one else wanted to eat any, ever!!! I think it is because most people are told not to eat berries and such when we are young. And liking a tree is not what you would call extremely "manly" by U.S. standards. The fig was a Celeste, I think, and the buildings were demolished a short time later.
I like figs because they just give me free food for hardly a thing in return.

My initiation was dumb luck.

I grew up eating Fig Newtons and never identified figs with anything else.  When I was in my  early forties...last year<chortle>...I was going over the desert menu in a NYC restaurant that featured mediterranean cuisine.  It offered fresh figs with mascarpone and marsalsa. Normally, I would have gone for something more decadent-sounding, but i had had a heavy meal and didn't have much room left.  Since I had never tasted a fresh fig, I ordered the dish with some skepticism.

The plate arrived with 4 dark figs that were "butterflied" (split into quarters and still attached at the stem) with a dollop of marscapone in the center of each, drizzled with Marsala, and garnished with fresh mint.  Simple, elegant, DIVINE.  I was immediately and hopelessly hooked and sought out fresh figs everywhere after that with little success.

They say that it was really a pomegranate that Eve ate in the Garden of Eden.  Really!!????  I am positive that it was a fig.  I can't say that a pomegranate is sinful, but a fig certainly is!

I immediately began researching fig culture, what little of it was availalbe, and finally found that Miller Nursey in the Finger Lakes district of New York offered Brown Turkey and Celeste (the same one that Herman ditched).  I knew nothing about growing anything in pots so  I dumped a couple of bags of TOPSOIL into a couple of pots and stuck the fig trees into them.  The soil turned into concrete and it took 3 years to get my first 12 figs.  Then I killed both trees that winter.

I gave up for a few years, but the thought of growing my own fresh figs haunted me after my very brief and modest success.

Why do I like them?  They are sweet, flavorful, luscious and probably the easiest fruit tree in the world to grow.

My parents came from Iran (dad from Tehran/mom from Shiraz). They met, got married, had kids, etc. in the U.S.  I've been to Iran three times in my life at 3, 11, 13.  The first two times we spent most of our time in Shiraz.  My mom's dad had many orchards and grew mostly figs, pomegranates and grapes.  He had many other fruit trees but not in great quantities like the others. 

I am the oldest of four brothers, so the first time we went for almost a year.  I was 3+ and was able to really interact with my grandparents.  My next oldest brother was still an infant and my mom was pregnant with the third. So I hung out with my grandfather while my brother hung out with my mom and grandmother.  This relationship I had with my grandfather continued on the second trip.  He would take me to his work, let me do stuff, brag about me to his employees, etc.   After work we would usually stop for foloodeh.

This is already twice as long as I thought it was going to be and less than half of what I was going to say... so I'll try to cut it short here.  For most of the summer my brothers and I would spend our days climbing into the trees in his courtyard and eat figs and pomegranates.  That's where it started for me... as a fond memory and a homage to my grandfather. 

When my children were much younger, we planted 2 fig trees (one for each of them).   They both turned out to be mislabeled and the same variety, Celeste.  I was looking to plant a third tree and looking for information to determine whether I wanted a Brown Turkey or Black Mission (the only other two varieties I knew of and what the first two were supposed to be) and I stumbled across the GardenWeb forums...

That is probably all I need to say.

~james

Wow, great thread! I'm so glad to hear other peoples stories. Here's mine....

In early 2000 I was looking through the usual onslaught of garden catalogs and I saw one from Gurney's nursery. It had a listing for "Edible Fig" I had eaten dried figs before and liked them but wasn't totally crazy about them ( oh how times have changed) but I decided to order the small plant with a few other things. This plant lived inside for several years all year long and wasn't the healthiest specimen. After the 2nd or 3rd year I got a fig and it was pretty good. Right around that time I found out that it really needs a rest while its living in my latitude so I began to over winter it in my basement and then in a couple of years later it would live in my greenhouse.

 I never knew what kind of fig it was and was fairly content with being the weird plant guy growing a fig tree in WI. Then I went to a fruit tree grafting workshop at the Miwdwest Organic Farming conference... about 5 years ago. Wow, I was on fire for fruit trees. Then I started to look at my fig tree through a different lens. I too found the gardenweb fig forum and was blown away by all the other people into figs...and all the different kinds! I got help with the ID on my mystery fig, actually a strawberry verte, and was thrilled. I reached out to 2 members there Gorgi and KKfromNJ and they gave me my first cuttings. I was hooked and will always have a feeling of gratitude to the people who have supported me in my obsession uh I mean passion. :-)

Found a fig tree on a job site. Amazing taste(Elana fig). Brought a dozen home and the wife loves them. Hence for the loving wife, I started to look for info & sourcing. Found Garden Web for figs. Put in a request for help & Walla, Michael a local fig hobbyist responded and it never stopped. Wife & son loves fresh figs and the wealth of info & varieties makes growing them fun. The bonus friendships it spawn with great food to taste when visiting friends. We had a wonderful warm welcome to experience Pakistani food for the 1st time. I even had the opportunity to have a wonderful experience on how long an Italian dinner can last from 6pm to midnight --  no kidding just food, drinks -- relax, chat & food & food, good food that one cannot stop eating.  Now I know why "bathrooms" are located close to dinning rooms. ha ha ha. Plus I have thought I have met enough fignuts until this serious fignut beats all I have met. This fignut drove more than 8 hours in his huge empty trailer to visit & stay for 2 days to share fig stories & experiences & then pickup his load. Wow.....

Well, if there is a good variety, I should try, I will if cuttings are available. I like the challenge of growing them after work and letting family & friends enjoy the goodness of figs. I got my brother interested and a few friends too. These folks only knew about dried figs & had no idea as to the many varieties and how good fresh figs taste. More great tasting figs to be discovered & grown. I just need to weed out the medicore to make room. So many fig friends to thank and had many invitations to visit. Great thread.

     I grew up in South Texas (Corpus Christi) about a mile from the bay - lots of salty humidity in the summertime.   We had a fig tree, citrus trees, loquat and a pomegranate.   I loved plants and fruit trees but growing up I did not know anything about the seasonal cycle of the fig.

Hi!  I'm relatively new to the forum, but this seemed like a good topic to jump in with.

Simply put, on the positive part, they just taste very good ripe off the tree!

On the negative part, fig trees are a pain in the neck to winter-protect

here in cold NE (but doable).   

When I was young, my father would always buy a ring of dried figs in the Christmas season. He didn't talk aobut his childhood much, but I believe it was always a moment of nostalgia for him The figs were the texture of beef jerky, but I didn't care, because they were sweet and their seeds gave them a slightly nutty flavor. Then one day, visiting the local horticultural park, I spotted a fig tree and snitched a ripe fig and my eyes were opened. I convinced myself that if they could grow them, I could grow them. Now, if I can get them to fruit, I'll be ecstatic.

I have never had a tree ripe fig in my life, only those from the grocery store, fresh or dried. A shame, no?  I fell in love with figs as I was searching for wine recipes. Had no clue that figs could be grown here.  So I stalked the internet and read blog after blog, then I found F4F. I read post after post after post. And then I asked for help--was anyone selling any plants or cuttings.  And I got responses (you know who you are), and I was off.  I got a few young plants and several cuttings, and then the search began.  I fell in love. I also am a sucker for a wild or bizarre leaf pattern: Ice Crystal, Eftakia, etc. The figs were a godsend last year because I had to move in with my elderly mother for almost 4 months while she recovered from a serious back injury/surgery/rehab---my cuttings and baby plants moved to Mom's because I didn't trust my husband to properly care for them.  Eventually some of the plants went home with my DH after he promised to take care of them (he didn't kill a single one).  My Mom loved checking on the cuttings every morning before I was up and about, she would report a new leaf bud or substantial overnight growth, etc.  She is getting a container Black Mission fig of her own this year, this is her favorite fig from our many years in California. It will spend the winters with me.

So that is my story.  My name is Sara, and I am a fig fiend.

The first fig I ever ate was off a fig tree at a friends house in Virginia.  It was soft and I remember being a little confused because it hardly had any flavor or sugar.  I realize now it was not completely ripe and it was an immature tree.  Anyway, that was in early 80's and I never gave figs a second thought until I moved to North Carolina.  I have always been interested in edible landscaping and one day I went to a local farm stand and fortunately it was fig season.  They were selling figs in pint baskets and I decided to try them again.  They were perfectly ripe fresh picked Celeste's.  Sweet with tons of flavor.  Instantly I knew I would be growing these in my yard along with the other edibles.  I went back to that farm stand repeatedly until the fig season was over.  I planted 4 varieties of figs three years ago and they are all good.

I grew up in NY and one day a packet of figs made its way to the house. These were dark figs pressed together with the texture of, to quote Musillid, 'beef jerky'.  Meh.  No interest in figs.  I was so young I didn't even realize they were dried.  So when, dream come true, I moved to California a coworker brought a huge bowl of fat purple things to work I asked, "what are those?"  I tried one anyway and recognised them as the same things that were falling by the bushel from the 50 foot tree in my yard.  They were phenomenal! (likely a Mission) I couldn't stop eating them.  A friend showed me how to make a razor & basket on a pole.  So I've tried growing them but moved around and was away from home too much to really make it work.  Until now...    :)  

When I was small, some 65 years ago, a hawker passing through our street selling fruits will loudly shout "Fruit from Heaven". I asked my parents "How does he get fruit from paradise". They told me "He means figs, dark black figs". So every years at the right time in summer I always waited for the sight or shout of the hawker "Fruit from paradise". People will stop the hawker to buy some figs. The flies will show up in no time so the fig baskets were always covered with mesh cloth. My parents will help me buy some eight to ten figs most of the time when the hawker showed up in those years after finding out that I really enjoyed them. Those figs always used to be bruised over-ripe dark black figs but the taste really convinced me that those were really "fruit from Heaven". Then in early teens we knew some wild bushes in a local wooded area that used to ripen small fig fruit in early July just when the schools were closing for summer but we use to consume them before they ripe to full black colour and then get swollen lips by eating partially ripe figs.

After moving to Canada and much later, I jumped at the opportunity when I found that figs can be grown in pots in Canada even in Zone 5 in short but good warm summer. I learn that there is no pollination issue with common figs and the frost issues can be managed. So now I enjoy watching grow figs as much as tasting its heavenly taste when ripe and I get to its before the critters.

Hello Ottawan, thats a perfect description. I guess I will make an engrave sign stating "Fruit From Paradise" & leave it in my fig garden. They are so yummy.

My adventure started forty years ago with my grandfather. I was spending time with him during summer break. One day he took me aside and let me in on a secret. He told me that I had been lied to, candy does grow on trees. He had a Celeste fig tree. That summer after almost every dinner we ate figs for desert. He showed me when to pick them. That summer was special to me. Later that year he showed me how to trim the tree and start cuttings. Where to put the potted cuttings under the edge of an oak tree. That way they got the morning sun and not too much water when it rained. Later after I joined the service, I was stationed in Europe. I ate figs in every country I visited from France and Spain to Italy. Before I left the service grandpa past away. The people who bought his house had the tree taken out. Two years ago while walking through a nursery, I found a half price rack. On that rack was a Celeste fig tree. I bought the tree. The first year I had the tree it fruited but lost all but one. I ate the one and remembered. That is when I started lurking here gathering information. Late last year I decided to stop lurking and join in. It is good to be a part of something you enjoy.    

My story is as simple as they come. Born in the epicenter of fig heaven (Calabria), what choice does one have but to love the things he is nurtured on?

I've been growing figs ever since I bought my first home in 1990 but became complacent with a mere 4 or 5 varieties. Last year I discovered figs4fun through JD, and my love of figs was rekindled. I was shocked to find that there are so many people with so much passion for a fruit I considered, "ethnic".
In less than a year, my collection has grown to 50 plus, half of which are in ground in the newly founded N. Florida Orchard, thanks to members of this forum.

It's a bit funny to me about figs being 'ethnic'.  Some have spoken about their memories of figs from Europe or the middle east, but to me they are a Southern delicacy, and usually enjoyed by folks of the... how to phrase this... middle and lower socio-economic rungs of the ladder? You know, country folks. Even today, if you are out in what's left of the countryside in the south, you often see huge, old, gnarly fig trees where someone decades ago planted one for their home place. I know of a specimen in Palo Pinto county that's larger than the building it's next to. I've seen them growing in Louisiana and Mississippi that were next to abandoned, fallen-down houses covered in vines. And of course there was the orchard that once existed south of Houston decades ago that made chocolate covered Fignolias.

So for me, they're a part of Southern American history as well as being ethnic in other ways. But maybe rednecks are an ethnicity too?!! {;^P

I had organic black mission figs from costco last year, after that i wanted a fig tree.

Never had a fig in my life till 2007. Moved in here and there was a huge fig tree on the property that fruited prolificly so we nibbled on them all fall long. Hooked for life, I love them, nuff said.

We had a fig tree growing up but it never really produced figs because of some major cold snaps and lack of direct sunlight.

Fun thread—thanks!

My dad studied agriculture but became an insurance salesman—however, he never lost his love of growing things. I grew up in southern California, and when I was very young he got a small, potted fig. For some reason, I picked all the leaves off it. Dad thought it was done for, and threw it away. Years later, he planted a Black Mission and a Hachia Persimmon in our yard—the persimmon thrived, but the fig never did much.

The reason I love them is because Dad used to buy fresh Black Mission figs from an old lady with a tree in her yard. You picked them yourself and paid by the pound. Sublime! He also used to drive to a store in Loma Linda and buy dried figs in bulk, as well as big, whole wheat fig bars. The best figs came from my Grandparents’ huge tree in Sacramento—Grandma would peel, split, and refrigerate them and serve us each a bowl for breakfast, with milk poured over them. Most fun, though, was to go out under the tree and pick them myself—warm, soft, and sticky—and eat figs till I couldn’t hold another one.

This is a good thread for me to post. Although I have been a part of other forums for a while, I am still pretty new to this forum, so while I read and get tons of info here all the time, I am always hesitant to post because I know so many people are real pros here on this site.  

As for why I like figs,

Well, I guess the very first reason is because I am Italian. LOL!

Growing up, and up until not too many years ago, I thought all figs were purple/dark figs. There was a family fig tree from Italy brought over here in NJ when my family got off the boat, probably 1920's.

They were a dark purple fig and I remember picking them when I was younger. Oh, how I wish I knew about cuttings then! I would so much love to have that variety some how!

AS I got older, I always had a Celeste fig tree I brought with me wherever I would move. Still have that Celeste too.

For years, I never knew that there were so many different varieties of figs until I was talking to a friend in CA one day a few years ago, and she began to tell me that there were 1000's of fig varieties. I did not believe her, until she gave me the figs4fun website for me to see just how many varieties there are and counting! I was totally amazed!

I always have planted vegetables and fruit trees my whole life, so I was very surprised to not know about how deep varieties and info on figs really went. So maybe 5 years ago(?) I bought my first cuttings from Jon and I have been collecting ever since!

However, my main goal, whether realistic or not, would be to find the variety of fig that my family brought over here back in the day. My family came from Salerno, so it would be a variety that was popular of that area of Italy back in the 1920's.

I have some tell me that Trojano is a fig of that region, however, I believe Trojano figs are green, and my family's figs were definitely purple and dark.

So even if I can not find that exact variety, I would love to have any varieties from the Salerno region. I always wanted to post and ask if anyone knew of any such varieties.

Anyway, I did recently find an old tin of seeds that I kept from when I was younger. To my surprise, I found some dried out fig seeds on a paper towel. And it came back to me, I saved some seeds from my family's tree! The seeds are probably at least 15-20 years old!

I have not tried to grow them out yet out of fear if I mess it up, I will never be able to find anymore. I was thinking once I get posting a little more on the forum,  of even asking if anyone familiar with fig seeds would like to try and grow them with me.

I know that they may not come true to variety, but would be nice to even have a relative of the tree in some way.

Anyway, so that is my story! Thanks for reading!

Christy