I hope to buy several fig varieties that are not super sweet- I distinctly dislike the super sweet.  Am looking for medium to low sweetness with some other taste complexity going on.  For Zone 7 growing in ground can you recommend several varieties like this?  

Is there any sweetness ranking that would help me?  I realize sweetness might vary by climate, etc but I'm just looking for a general idea.

Thanks.

Steve

This is the only flavor chart for a large variety of figs I know of.

http://www.hawaiifruit.net/figtastescale.htm

I think any Mt Etna type would be good for your zone.
They are strong berry flavored with medium-low sweetness.

Hardy Chicago
MBVS
Sals GS

Thank you Figgy Sid.  Very helpful.  Would you say that taste varies much among the Mt Etna's?  In other words, is one Mt. Etna type sufficient for a backyard collection?  

They are pretty close. MBVS or Hardy Chicago are consistent berry flavored. Sals GS has more syrup/ sugar.

Thanks Drew.   

Would you call  LSU Purple or Petite Nigra super sweet?  

Am considering PN for two pots although if deer eat fig fruit, a dwarf like PN is not going to work because we have huge roaming herds.

I see some other posts refer to figs with some "acid" in the taste.  Do any names come to mind?  

Hi Steve,

When I think of slight acid taste, I think of The Bordeauxs. Rdb, VdB, Malone, petite Aubique, etc.

I think the flavor groups maybe to avoid would be the honey and most of the sugar figs. Dark berry, green berry ( aka Adriatic figs) and Bordeaux figs might be what you're looking for. These typically have a richness, or complexity that the lighter figs usually don't have.

LSU Purple is a sugar flavor type fig. VDB and RDB are also good berry flavored figs. Figs would very likely be eaten by deer. You could prune you trees into tree form instead of bush for to put the figs out of reach of the deer.

Ripeness also affects sweetness quite a bit. If you pick them a bit early they won't be as sweet. Personally, I prefer them before they get very soft.

Thanks everyone for your help.

I prefer more meloney tones that super syrup sweet too. You can also water your plant the day before picking to help saturate it and make it less syrupy 

Verns BT
Longue Daout
Osborne Prolific
Marseilles
DK
Olympian
Excell
Flanders
Gillette
Brunswick is borderline, depends on your location
Mary Lane
Zingarella

Thanks for that list.

One of the best, easy figs to grow, is Hardy Chicago. It is a Mt Edna type, berry tasting and not supper sweet. Or put it this way, the fig/berry taste is much more noticeable than its sweetness. They grow great in zone 7, and on the chance they do freeze to the ground, they will come back and produce fruit on first year growth. Its a hard to beat fig!

Also, you might want to look into one of the col de dam varieties. I have a young tree that gave me 3-4 fruits last year and they had a very nice sweet/sub-acid taste, quite different from my other figs. But I cannot say how well they will do yet. Mine is in a 5-gal pot and I move it into the shed each winter. I hope to put it in the ground in another year or two, but I just don't know.