In Defense of English Brown Turkey, or just Brown Turkey as we call it here in Europe.
Wow, Jon, nothing will get you going like brebas or Brown Turkey :) - Well, hold on, here comes a post that combines your two favorite fig phenomenons.......
I guess if I was living in Southern California, i would have other favorites too......
Frank, You are not alone in liking Brown Turkey. But Brown Turkey comes in many versions. The one I am growing here in Southern Scandinavia is an amazing fig variety. I call it Brown Turkey, because I believe it is the original Brown Turkey ! Following in American tradition for naming figs, I would have to call it English Brown Turkey.
Figs have so many aliases, but English Brown Turkey has more aliases than any other fig, I think. One of the more pretty names is “Bella Brunetta” in Italy, but I’m not going to try and list all the aliases from around Europe or USA.
It is a different variety than most Brown Turkeys grown in the US, I believe.
This is the most cultivated variety of fig in northern Europe. It has been the standard variety for decades, if not centuries in Denmark and other northern European countries. It is so, because it combines several good traits for our cool summers and relatively mild winters. It is, so to speak, our Desert King, because it does precisely what Desert King does for growers in the PNW !
English Brown Turkey Good traits:
-It is amongst the more frost hardy fig varieties, but like any other fig-varieties, it can freeze to the ground, below -15C.
It bears a substantial breba crop of 0-8 figs per shoot, that ripens over a period of several weeks In August, even in a cool coastal climate. So one fig tree can carry hundreds of breba figs to maturity, and just one tree can supply all the figs, that a normal household would dream of. The main crop figs do not normally develop to maturity here in Northern Europe. But in a warmer climate, or a greenhouse, they do. (So take note please, it is a common fig, performing as well as the San Pedro cultivar "Desert King".)
The EBT breba figs are delicious as fresh fruit, and they can be used for any kitchen purpose You can think of, and they even dry well, in case the freezer is full, and your family had enough fresh figs and pies for the season.
I think, that the eating quality of figs, is not determined so much by the fact that they are brebas or main crop. More by the weather at the time of ripening. And since these breba-babies ripen at the height of summer here, they taste good.
They actually even begin to dry on the tree, if the tree is in a well drained soil, and the weather is right.
Untill recently, this was the only fig grown here. Elsewhere in Scandinavia, for instance in the island of Bornholm, you also find Brunswick. But very few other fig varieties are found here. Figs grow into large bushes or trees in gardens close to the ocean, especially in our islands. Inland they freeze to the ground in many winters. Only breba-croppers have a chance to ripen here. No Main crop variety will ripen in the open in Scandinavia, unless it ripens well before Ronde de Bordeaux. I doubt if such a variety exists.
But is English Brown Turkey really that unique, is it the only fig variety in the world, that will carry up to 8 breba-figs per shoot, in total bringing hundreds of figs to maturity on one tree, in a cool summer climate. ? Maybe not! I have heard about one other variety called Desert King, which is reputed to bear up to 8 breba figs on one branch in the PNW. But I haven’t tried this cultivar yet.
I am searching for other breba varieties to match English Brown Turkey in yield and quality, in my climate. All contenders are welcome, but I think EBT is hard to beat in my climate.
I would encourage all fig growers in the PNW or other similarly cool summer/mild-winter climates, where brebas survive winter, to try our European “English Brown Turkey” (whatever it is called locally) as a supplement to Desert King in the open garden.
Where winter temperatures are lower, its justification is to be grown in greenhouses, in pots, or otherwise protected from hard frost, but please don’t prune all the annual shoots in winter, you’ll miss out on its great breba harvest at a time where all the main croppers still are far from maturity.
A perfectly ripe English Brown Turkey
An overripe EBT, starting to dry. I finish drying them in the oven. A big old jar of dried figs is a treasure in winter. When I open the jar, the sweet fig aroma emerges....
6 delicious brebas on one shoot is not unusual, I've seen up to 8, but to be fair some shoots have zero fruits
The tree that gave the fruits above. Tree is ten years old. Sometimes I have to hug the tree, when I pass it. Thanks for the figs, English Brown Turkey.
