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Now this is an awesome thing to come home to. Three different main crop varieties ripe enough to sample that I’ve never tasted before. I’m going to try to keep this succinct, because we don’t need a novel to review a fig, but I do want to collect all my thoughts. There’s no gilded story with the reviews I’ve done, just my honest opinion and experience.I’d love for others to chime in as well.
First was Fico Preto De Torres Novas. This little tree is loaded for its size, but none of the figs are very big. Several of them are ripening now so I’ll let them hang a little longer until I probably let some really dry on the tree. To me the eye is a little scary on these as it’s kind of big with them being so small, but I think they’ll be ok. The ripeness on this one was nice, but it can always go longer. The skin is a little fuzzy and kind of thick, but that doesn’t detract. Flavor on this one was just ok. It was sweet. About like my first Florea last year. Nothing special. I’ve had 3 Florea so far this year that have blown everything away from that tree last year. Night and day difference, so I think I can hopefully anticipate PdTN performing better with more age. This tree got a slight headstart of just a couple weeks in my greenhouse, so I think I could likely put this one in the ground. For now it gets an incomplete for a grade just because I want to see more.
Next up was Rosa Esmeralda. I expected the main crop on this one to be a larger size. It was about the same size as torres novas. However, this one absolutely stopped me in my tracks. I think my exact words were Holy $*!+. This little fig was insanely sweet. It was like one of those strawberry candies at grandma’s house. The ones with the red and green wrapper that you pick through the candy dish for. I can see why Gardencrochet rated this one so highly. Very syrupy and had a nice texture. A+ For flavor, sweetest fig of the year for me so far. C for size. Incomplete for productivity because initially it only produced 3 figs on one branch but now with its third flush of growth every node has figlets, just too late in the season this year. This one gets extra credit for not getting a headstart and ripening main mid-August. If you want dried figs on a tree this would be one to do it if this is all the bigger they are. Super tight eye and really high sugar.
Last taste today was De Tres Esplets, and probably the headliner of the day. Rosa Esmeralda won the day on these samples, but I think DTE is going to be the better fig. Right off the bat, DTE scores a bonus because when I picked it there was a little latex on the stem. It didn’t matter. The pics may not have picked it up but this thing was starting to get syrupy. It does have a little bit of an eye, but I think it’ll fill in when fully ripe. This one was really good. Very nicely sweet, definite berry notes, a little hint of acidity at the end. It reminded me a little of ronde de Bordeaux. Overall I think this one is going to end up being a staple fig of the Northwest. The next one I’ll let go even longer, see if I can force it to split possibly, but ultimately I want to see what happens if it hangs a really long time. Will it spoil or dry before our rain sets in in October?
First was Fico Preto De Torres Novas. This little tree is loaded for its size, but none of the figs are very big. Several of them are ripening now so I’ll let them hang a little longer until I probably let some really dry on the tree. To me the eye is a little scary on these as it’s kind of big with them being so small, but I think they’ll be ok. The ripeness on this one was nice, but it can always go longer. The skin is a little fuzzy and kind of thick, but that doesn’t detract. Flavor on this one was just ok. It was sweet. About like my first Florea last year. Nothing special. I’ve had 3 Florea so far this year that have blown everything away from that tree last year. Night and day difference, so I think I can hopefully anticipate PdTN performing better with more age. This tree got a slight headstart of just a couple weeks in my greenhouse, so I think I could likely put this one in the ground. For now it gets an incomplete for a grade just because I want to see more.
Next up was Rosa Esmeralda. I expected the main crop on this one to be a larger size. It was about the same size as torres novas. However, this one absolutely stopped me in my tracks. I think my exact words were Holy $*!+. This little fig was insanely sweet. It was like one of those strawberry candies at grandma’s house. The ones with the red and green wrapper that you pick through the candy dish for. I can see why Gardencrochet rated this one so highly. Very syrupy and had a nice texture. A+ For flavor, sweetest fig of the year for me so far. C for size. Incomplete for productivity because initially it only produced 3 figs on one branch but now with its third flush of growth every node has figlets, just too late in the season this year. This one gets extra credit for not getting a headstart and ripening main mid-August. If you want dried figs on a tree this would be one to do it if this is all the bigger they are. Super tight eye and really high sugar.
Last taste today was De Tres Esplets, and probably the headliner of the day. Rosa Esmeralda won the day on these samples, but I think DTE is going to be the better fig. Right off the bat, DTE scores a bonus because when I picked it there was a little latex on the stem. It didn’t matter. The pics may not have picked it up but this thing was starting to get syrupy. It does have a little bit of an eye, but I think it’ll fill in when fully ripe. This one was really good. Very nicely sweet, definite berry notes, a little hint of acidity at the end. It reminded me a little of ronde de Bordeaux. Overall I think this one is going to end up being a staple fig of the Northwest. The next one I’ll let go even longer, see if I can force it to split possibly, but ultimately I want to see what happens if it hangs a really long time. Will it spoil or dry before our rain sets in in October?
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