Mt Etnas plus Calverte and LSU Purple

[mountainfigs]

Yesterday's pick on plate. Calverte and LSU Purple highest on plate. 2 Zingarellas lowest on plate. Left to right across the middle: Papa John, Hardy Chicago, Mt Etna Unknown. All from pots except Hardy Chicago from in-ground. All great flavors except LSU Purple which was only passable. This one did not sugar up, picked too early.

Next two pics are Malta Black, which seems to me now to be a Mt Etna. Leaves, fruit, and growth on 3 Malta Black bushes from 2 different sources all screaming, Mt Etna. Bright strawberry flavor. Very shaded bush and fruit thus it did not darken much.

Next pick is fresh crisp strawberry sweet Calverte. Could have ripened longer but I'm coming to appreciate more the fresh fruity crisp stage of fig ripeness as much as or even more than the sugar jam stage of ripeness.

Also have come to greatly appreciate peeling the skin in strips (with fingers from the stem down) and eating much of the skin separately before eating the pulp, which diversifies and expands the flavor experience. You peel and eat the skin and you wind up with what looks like a mini peeled orange in your hand. Then eat the pulp and any skin remainder and you can get a better sense of the particular flavor of the fig.

Final pick is the passably ripe LSU Purple.

[Ripple]

Nice selection. LSU Purple seem to get mixed reviews. Some claim it takes 5 yrs for flavor to develop. I have LSU Purple and its about 3 ft with triple stems in bush form. Hasn't fruited yet maybe next year. I heard Calverte is similar to Green Ischia which I thought was late season ripening. Is Calverte earlier ripening than GI or did you start indoors.

[mountainfigs]

The Calverte is approximately 5 years old, so the age helps. However, last year, the first and nearly only Calverte ripened on October 31, after frost, in garage. This year, the Calverte set fruit very early and it developed fast, even if only one has ripened so far. Also helping this year is that it is getting extra heat by sitting on cement drive. It reliably sets fruit though which is more than I can say for my Green Ischia and Verte, which for me have set little or no fruit and none has ripened. I have sometimes neglected light figs including these in favor of dark. These lights though do not even set breba for me, unlike quite a few other lights to which I'm giving increasing attention.

LSU Purple deserves its mixed reviews. For me it very reliably sets fruit, which is always encouraging. And it reliably ripens that fruit. It has a great unique for me dark look. Even when its taste is middle of the road, I don't find it to be a bad taste, the way Conadria for me can be bad. Treated right and with patience, LSU Purple can be a great fig, and in my experience at least a unique fig. When well-ripened it is uniquely dark and sheeny and uniquely flavored. However, age for this fig can definitely help. This cultivar requires more patience than the most precocious cultivars, though LSU Purple is a precocious cultivar too in my view in every way except in top level flavor when young.