Commonly available varieties are not bottom tier

[CA-orchard]

I was planning to post some good looking "top tier" and berry flavored varieties. But I see a lot already up and looking great. For a change, I decided to post about "bottom tier" to hopefully support the point that widely available does not mean low quality.

Here are Improved Brown Turkey (first 2 pictures) and mature Black Mission (last 4 pictures). I think some are probably caprified and it is hot and dry! BT was so sweet. For my family, it was perfect. The BM was outstanding balance of acidity and sweetness.

I still use BT mainly as rootstock but today I was impressed and I found that for my kids it is the best!

[TorontoJoe]

Yup! The reason they become commonly available IS BECAUSE they're top tier. No reason a fig would become ubiquitous if it didn't have some good qualities.

Actually I've had some Haute Couture figs that tasted like stale Newtons

And those are some very good looking figs you have there. Well done!

[tinyfish]

That is a very good point.

[MJFIGS]

A caprified "bottom tier" varieties are better than most uncaprified "top tier" varieties in my opinion

[oat]

Caprification can be like magic for some varieties but not all. I think BT is a lot better caprified. Black Mission even without caprification is very nice.
In my opinion, low humidity is a super important factor affecting the quality of the figs. Even where I am in SF, we get some marine layer but when the sun is out, the relative humidity is in the 50s percent or lower.

[JT1923]

I love me some Black Mission. Mine taste like black cherry and black raspberry together. Really really good.

[tinyfish]

A very good thread for any new growers.

[Halligan-]

Those figs look great, Gorgeous and juicy!!

Desert King is one of my faves! Gotta love the budget beauties.

[Halligan-]

Oh man, I’ve never had caprified!
I bet it will be good!

[TorontoJoe]

I’ve only had fresh off the tree caprified in Italy. Oh yeah…. It makes a difference. Not to say that I haven’t had a bunch of varieties that perhaps are just as good without the wasp but generally speaking it makes average figs pretty awesome

[FigFiend]

Im such a cheerleader for DK..caprified main crop on a mature tree..for me personally it's the best daily eating fig right now..and because of its color and the size of the main crop it throws off the pest the can't figure out what's ripe so it's a real winner

[blaze]

I agree I am thinking of dumping quite a few including expensive types of dark figs because my Etnas are just amazing this year.