Anybody growing one of these figs?

Following this as interested in it as well. Do you know where in Morocco these names were collected? Ashemrar means "white" in Tamazight.

I have a Nazareth , green/yellow skin but with red pulp. Its also a san pedro type.

Following. Their olives are no slouches, either. I am propagating Argan trees here, expecting they would fare well in Phoenix, AZ

According to one document from their archives, the Moroccan Agricultural research institute conducted a survey of fig varieties over ten years ago and identified 51 native varieties then acquired about 65 from various countries including the US, Portugal, Spain and France in order to add to the gene pool.
Unfortunately the same variety could be known by many names, especially locally and many are still unknowns. To make the matter even more complicated, many local varieties need the Caprifig.
As an example, of 24 cultivars found in the countryside only six are known at the national level.

Almoushari or Hamran or Jawharee(substantial)
White Lumbar
Rahodan
Alkooti
Aounak Hamam

Of those six I read that Rhodan might be the only one that does not need the Capri fig.
Due to translation and perhaps local pronunciation, I find that one of those six comes close to what you wrote above. Rahodan might be aghoedan.
I would not be surprised if some or all of the ones you mentioned above are non native to Morocco.

aghoedan= aghoudan in Thamazighth is ghoudani in arabic
rahodan.... maybe if the speaker was from Rabat where r > gh but long u doesn't usually disappear.

Just lost one of my four year old Argan trees when I left it outside for the first time. I don't know if it'll ever come back. All the leaves dried up after last week's cold spell.

Thank you all for your comments.

Sas and SDA, I think you are onto something. Aghoedan could very well be the same as rahodan and ghoudani. I have found some more very similar names like rhouddan, ghouddane, ghoddane and el ghoddane.

According to this publication (https://fr.scribd.com/doc/46213976/figue), Rhouddan is a black fig of the common type, producing 2 crops without pollination by the fig wasp. It is one of the 6 most widespread commercially grown figs in the north of Morocco. The others are san pedro types. Eighty varieties are grown commercially in the north of Morocco (Rif mountains). The names of the figs in my first post also come from that corner.

If ashemrar simply means “white”, this fig could be anything. I hope to post some pictures and more information about these figs soon. Hopefully this will give a better idea of what variety this white fig is.

I agree that some of these figs are probably not native to Morocco. Nazareth doesn’t sound like a typical name for a Moroccan fig …. It will however be interesting to see if it is the same as the Nazareth fig that other members of this forum are growing.

Argan trees … never heard of them before. Beautiful trees, and goats seem to like them!

Aghoudan and its variants= happy in Thamazighth.

Argan oil is to Moroccan Amazigh what olive oil is to southern Italians, it has also become popular in the West in hair and skin care products. Sadly the abundance of argan trees and argan forests has been seriously reduced and damaged and goats play a part in it.

Actually Columella in old scriptures wrote that the variety "Rhodian" (Rhodiae) was from Rodus(hence the name)  of greece and produce lots of brebas and two more crops-summer and all.
my info says Rhodian is a green fig.

Eli, it’s good to know that there is also a green Greek fig with the name Rhodian. A little extra confusion about fig names is just what we need :-)

I did some more research on Moroccan fig names and I have found this interesting publication:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280082242_Vernacular_Taxonomy_Classification_and_Varietal_Diversity_of_fig_Ficus_carica_L_Among_Jbala_cultivators_in_Northern_Morocco

Ahafriw could in fact be the same as Hafer (also: Ahafer, Ahafath, Hafri). There is a green and a black version of the Hafer fig, but Ahafriw is supposed to be a red fig so I’m not sure if it is the same.

According to this publication, only 2 of the many figs in the area are considered to be high quality: Koutti and Ghouddane (also: Taghouddanit, Aghouddanit, Aghdiden).
Here is what the article says about Ghouddane: “A popular black variety, ghouddane, has a double crop, is very sweet, has good drying characteristics, medicinal value and is parthenocarpic, but is not as abundant as koutti, possibly because current market demands favor white varieties”.

Amechtawi might be the same as M’tioui (“originating from Mtioua”). If so, it’s also a very tasty fig according to this publication: http://www.inra.org.ma/publications%5Couvrages%5Cjourneefiguier.pdf
From what I was told, Amechtawi is a late but prolific fig, ripening from August till November in Morocco.

The latter publication also mentions that there was only one fig under evaluation that has a white interior. This fig is called Ahra. The ashemrar (“white”) fig might be the same as Ahra.

Last week I received cuttings of a couple of Moroccan fig varieties. Some are already spoken for, but there are still cuttings available of Aghoedan (= Ghouddane?), Nazareth and Ashemrar. If you are interested in any of these figs, please send me a PM.

These figs don’t need a hot climate, they are grown successfully here in Belgium. We don’t have the fig wasp, so they are either common or san pedro types. The cuttings that you will receive come from trees that are grown here, but were started from cuttings of trees that grow in Morocco, province of Nador.

Hello Timo

Are there any pictures of the Ghouddane fig ?
Another source with some experience with Moroccan cultivars said it could well be a San Pedro fig but not sure.

Francisco
Portugal

Hello Francisco,

I was promised some more info and pictures of these figs, but I haven’t received them yet. Will post them as soon as I can.

I have found a picture of Ghouddane on the 3rd page of this article: http://www.agrimaroc.net/106.pdf

One of the Aghoedan cuttings I received still had a black figlet on it, with a pyriform shape just like the fig on this picture.

From what I have read, Ghouddane is a common fig, producing brebas and main crop figs without pollination. This seems to be confirmed by the main crop figlet here in my zone.

In Morocco the brebas of Ghouddane are popular for fresh consumption. The main crop figs are much appreciated for drying.

I wouldn’t be surprised however if this fig, even if it is a common one, is treated the same way in Morocco as the numerous san pedro figs that are grown there. Even if it is not strictly necessary, farmers could also actively caprificate the main crop figs like they do with the san pedros, to add extra weight and flavor to the figs.

Hi Timo

Thanks very much.
Meanwhile found this clip and believe the fruit picking being shown could well be Ghoudanne

Nice thread regarding Moroccan figs, Timo. Like Vinny i also have Nazareth (it's supposed to be a San Pedro type but i don't think it's Moroccan).

The figs on the video look good, Francisco. Thanks for the link. It was published in August, it should be the second crop...

Thank you for posting this video, Francisco. You are right, the figs look very similar to Ghouddane.

Thanks, Jaime. I have read somewhere that the Nazareth fig was brought from Israel to Spain for commercial production. It’s only a small step from Spain to Morocco…

More info here:

http://www.inra.org.ma/docs/awamia/article/11704.pdf

http://www.inra.org.ma/publications%5Couvrages%5Cjourneefiguier.pdf

Thank you Francisco for all the videos and pictures of figs, very nice.

Thanks for the video, Francisco. Those are great looking figs. Wish we knew what they were saying? Do you think they have the wasp in Morocco? I especially like the guy in the UCLA baseball cap. 

Thanks, Francisco. Those wile little wasps sure get around.

Yesterday I received some more information on the Moroccan figs.

My friend confirmed that Agoedan is the same as Gouddane.
This fig produces 2 crops, no caprification needed.
http://montadajbala.ahlamontada.net/t1773-topic

Ameshtawi = Chetoui
1 crop (late), no caprification needed.
http://montadajbala.ahlamontada.net/t1773-topic

Nazareth
1 crop (late), no caprification needed.
http://www.plantenwebshop.be/vijgenboomkopen(.html
http://www.vlaamszaadhuis.com/winkel/tags/vijg%20bestellen

Asemrar
1 crop (late), no caprification needed.
My friend will look further for info on this fig.

The pictures of Nazareth come from Belgian nurseries, so I guess that the Moroccan strain is not much different from the fig that is sold here as Nazareth. If that’s the case, then it is supposed to be a San Pedro fig (2 crops - brebas without pollination, main crop only if pollinated by the fig wasp).

Chetoui is, according to Condit, a black fig of the common type. A Tunisian research paper says that it’s a yellow common fig. Another Tunisian study says that Chetoui is a Smyrna... Unfortunately the documents of the Moroccan National Institute of Agricultural Research don’t mention if it is a Smyrna or not.

For those who are interested, most of the cuttings are shipped out now but I still have a couple of cuttings available of Ghouddane, Nazareth and Ashemrar. PM me for more info.