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Timo

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
Anybody growing one of these figs?

-aghoedan (skin: black, pulp: red)
-ameshtawi  (skin: green, pulp: red)
-ahafriw (skin: red, pulp: red)
-ashemrar (skin: green, pulp: white) 
-nazareth (skin: yellow, pulp: white)

These are the Amazigh names of the figs. They could have an Arabic name too, not sure.

Any info about these figs would be welcome. So far I have only found some information about nazareth, but there might be more than one fig with this name.
SDA

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Following this as interested in it as well. Do you know where in Morocco these names were collected? Ashemrar means "white" in Tamazight.
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Hawai'i (12b)

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kkk2210

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
I have a Nazareth , green/yellow skin but with red pulp. Its also a san pedro type.
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Esteban_McFig

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
Following. Their olives are no slouches, either. I am propagating Argan trees here, expecting they would fare well in Phoenix, AZ
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Sas

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 

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.
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Sas from North Austin TX Zone 8B
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SDA

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
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.


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Sas

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
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.

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Timo

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 

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!

 
SDA

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
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.
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elin

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
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.
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Timo

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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
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 :-)
Timo

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Posted Reply with quote  #12 

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.
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