Brooklyn White - best light fig in the north?

[mountainfigs]

This is my best light fig currently, because it has great taste, great size, and good productivity over an unusually extended period of time.

It's a workhorse fig, not always the prettiest. It's far and away the closest light equivalent that I currently have to Mt Etna: dependable taste, dependable ripening, productive.

Has not bounced back to ripen fruit in ground in a low light area, but now that I'm seeing its worth, I might try it again in better lit ground to see what it can do, especially with some preserved low limbs. That said, am still hoping to ripen in ground Brooklyn White figs this year, though poorly placed, utterly neglected, and totally top-killed. It may be my only non-Mt Etna in-ground fig to ripen this year.

Great thick strawberry pulp flavor, great skin flavor, however the end of the skin can blacken and get leather tough in which case it's best to eat around that section of skin. Pulp is fully protected and jammy.

This cultivar is known to be a good breba producer too and produced some of my best brebas this year, rivaled only by Late Bordeaux brebas.

Ripened first breba July 23, first main crop August 25. Looks like it will ripen till frost.

[don_sanders]

Thanks for the report. Good info. This is one of the ones that I'm still hoping to get and your report convinces me even more that it's one that I should try. Sadly my first try at rooting these cuttings didn't make it.

[mountainfigs]

In cold country, light figs are still something of a curiosity to me. Many have exceptional taste but productivity is low, at least at a young age. The most productive lights gets waterlogged and lose flavor (Conadria, Latarolla/Lyndhurst White). But Brooklyn White behaves more like the appropriate dark figs, good flavor, good productivity. With special TLC most any cultivar can be rewarding but Brooklyn White seems to be one of the more forgiving light figs.

That said, quite a number of dark figs seem more prolific and earlier, especially at a young age: the Mt Etnas, far and away, also Ronde de Bordeaux. LSU Improved Celeste, Florea, the Late Bordeauxs, LSU O'Rourke, LSU Purple I would rely on too ahead of Brooklyn White or Champagne. (Look at that list: Bordeauxs, Etnas, LSUs, plus Florea.) The Kadota variants, Janice and Binella/o, as light figs can bear a lot of fruit but ripen late, or few. Maybe with age or better treatment more cultivars will ripen earlier with productivity enough to become cold climate staples.

Brooklyn White, like the Late Bordeauxs, does have the advantage of producing at least a few brebas before the earliest main crops come in. It can't keep pace with the Mt Etnas though once main crop production starts.

[Jamie0507]

That's good to know, I am VERY interested in adding this variety to my collection too. So thank you for sharing such detailed info with us on it. If you happen to have any extra cuttings on hand this winter/early spring (fall, now lol), I'd LOVE to purchase a couple from you

[mountainfigs]

Sometimes these cuttings are very plentiful on Ebay. They were a few years ago when I bought them. And I expect I'll go through Ebay with some cuttings in fall. Nothing available currently. Bass at Trees of Joy sells this cultivar, sometimes as small trees. Don and Jamie, if you don't have this cultivar come spring, be in touch.

[Jamie0507]

Thank you Tony! Yes Bass lives about 10-15 mins away from me, and I am pretty sure he does also sell White Brooklyn cuttings from time to time.. It's just nice to have a few good sources for the different cultivars on our "wishlists" Are you the same name on Ebay? If so I'd like to add you to my ebay list of sellers I follow

[mountainfigs]

Same name on ebay, thanks.

[Dale_M]

Not to highjack the thread, but you raise an interesting point. Is there an index of forum members who sell on ebay and their ebay names? I think that would be useful. It could be permanent page alterable only by an administrator. I am thinking no ratings or comments, just an index.

[AscPete]

from the Sticky at the top of the OurFigs Forum first page... http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-ho...erenced-topics

http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-ho...s-vendors-list

[Jamie0507]

Thanks Pete! This will be very useful as we sail into autumn & winter

[mountainfigs]

I think Art (Kubota1) remarked earlier this year that he didn't know why Brooklyn White didn't get more recognition. And Bass of Trees of Joy has always spoken highly of this fig. Well, it has been a revelation to me this year: a relatively easy light fig that tastes a lot like a dark fig. Not a late fig. Plus, good breba. The biggest fig that is also easy growing around here.

Photoed here with a Ronde de Bordeaux, which is now ripening an additional wave of main crop.

[AscPete]

Tony,
Although Brooklyn White is a hardy, tasty and productive cultivar I would give the title to the traditional Italian Honey group of figs, Italian Honey, Lattarula, White Marseilles etc. They are more productive and earlier for both breba and main crop figs. Second on my list would be Champagne aka LSU Golden Celeste it ripens in cooler weather and has produced large tasty brebas.

[mountainfigs]

I hear you, Pete. Others talk about Peter's Honey doing very well for them in the north, as a light fig. Just hasn't been my experience. Brooklyn White is what is working here. I don't doubt that the other light figs can be very productive. LSU Champagne and Lattarula produced fairly well here this year, and I expect them to be far more productive as the trees age.

However, it's not everybody's preference but I do prefer berry tasting figs to honey tasting figs. More flavor, deeper flavor, to me. And that's Brooklyn White rather than Champagne and Lattarula.

I do really like the shape of Lattarula, and I really like the skin color of Champagne, also the flavor. But Brooklyn White is yellow-golden too like Champagne, also bigger, and more flavorful to me, plus so far more productive here.

I can see all three cultivars becoming light skin mainstays though: great tasting, heavy producing. So far Brooklyn White is the star, not only because of its larger size and berry flavor but also because of its superior productivity, and over a longer period of time, for me at least.

As a counterpart to the dominance of the Mt Etnas in the NYC area, would be interesting to know if there is a predominant light fig. Could it be Brooklyn White? Or would it be one of the others? Would be interesting to know. Possibly it should be something else entirely, like Bianchetta, don't know.

[AscPete]

In The Bronx the predominant light figs are the Italian Honey Types, not the Dottato Types Dotatto, Kadota, Florentine, Binella, Banana, Peters Honey etc.

[mountainfigs]

I wouldn't expect the Dotatto types to have much representation. At one point I had high hopes for Binella because quite hardy and productive. However the Dotattos ripen too late, even Binella. Maybe older Dotatto trees can ripen significantly earlier.

I wondered once if Brooklyn White was a Dotatto type, but it seems clearly not to be. Comparatively, it ripens much earlier and much more productively. The fruit is different. And the leaf is typically different. I look forward to learning at some point what Brooklyn White has been known as long before it was known as Brooklyn White.

Could it be one of Baud's figs? I don't know.

[kubota1]

Great topic Tony. I'm with you on Brooklyn White. Way underrated and a definite keeper.

[mountainfigs]

In-ground Brooklyn White ripened today. Super tasting, super bright yellow looking, and biggest in-ground fig I've every ripened. And this after total top kill in a shady spot, a spot that I had come to think might never ripen any fig, even a Mt Etna.

Maybe should've taken a picture but was not considering its uniqueness at the time.

Of note is that Brooklyn White figs are very beautiful bright yellow figs, as long as they don't get scorched by the sun and blackened - which they don't here unless sun-exposed during an especially hot stretch of weather.

I mentioned this at the Rifugio Sapienza post:

I grow a fig bush in northern PA with minimal mulch protection that comes back every year. It's small, a few feet, but I haven't done anything to help it yet. The latitude is north of Laramie Wyoming, and the altitude is about 520 meters, or 1700 feet. Zone 5 most years, 6 some years.

It's Brooklyn White. I'm told it's tall now, bushy, and full of figs currently. I don't think they will ripen, but this bush came back from total top kill, so it's possible that if it were ever low limb protected the figs might come on in time to ripen.

Here in WV this year, yesterday LSU Purple was the first non-Mt Etna fig to ripen in ground. Total top kill but it does get a lot of sun. Brooklyn White was second by a day, in the shade. And near the LSU Purple is Binello which is close to ripening, also after total top kill.

Improved Celeste did not ripen from in-ground this year unlike last year. It emerged from the ground late last year and if anything even later this year, after total top kill, but its growth was so strong (probably due to inadvertent water and fertilizer from nearby pots) that it produced a mass of foliage and no figs until too late.

With most of these for the first time this winter I will attempt to bring through multiple low limbs under mulch to see if I can greatly improve the productivity of these in-grounders.

Janice Kadota ripened in pot today, first one on a loaded tree, a great cultivar, superior light fig, light interior. Seems smaller than Brooklyn White and somewhat more rounded but similar in color and texture. Brooklyn White though has a red pulp versus the amber-gold pulp of Janice.

[Altadena Mara]

I wonder how Brooklyn White would do in a hot Southern desert like SoCal? It sounds like a good fig.

[AscPete]

Brooklyn White definitely is a hardy and tasty fig with one minor drawback, its small open eye that tends to attract insects especially since the figs are aromatic when ripe, with a fragrance similar to a ripe Honeydew melon.

[mountainfigs]

Here's a 4+ years follow-up on Brooklyn White, in-ground, picked today. Things remain as I saw them 4 years ago, a rewarding light fig in ground in difficult conditions. This Brooklyn White has been slowly ripening a few figs from an unprotected total topkill bush. As have Mt Etna and LSU Purple bushes. Also to a lesser extent Ronde Bordeaux and Improved Celeste.

Brooklyn White doesn't always have time here to ripen in fall under these severe die-back conditions but no problem this year during an unusually extended fall. These very late BW figs come in stronger-shaped than most very late Mt Etnas, also larger as usual. And unlike a number of light skin figs under certain conditions, BW does not have bitter skin. The sweet flavor is also helped by the fact that BW figs tend to concentrate sugar inside the eye more than many figs. Plus there is no resin taste of certain honey figs but a more flavorful tendency toward berry flavor, fitting of a honey-berry fig. BW ripens more greenish than yellowish in these cool conditions.

As a dark skin fig that can ripen somewhat light under cool conditions, LSU Purple here in-ground behaves similarly to BW, though it concentrates its fall sweetness more along the length of the pulp. Again, these figs hold their shape better and are larger than Etnas that ripen late in cool conditions here.

So, the eyeward bite of these three BWs photoed was very sweet and sugary, with just a hint of berry under these cool conditions. More berry in warmer ripening days. And the second bite stemward was chewy juicy mild sweet.

I continue to find it striking to be able to grow and ripen figs in ground and pots both in a growing zone with at least six months of frost, plenty of snow and ice, and long and deep winter freezes.

[cvarcher]

These are what is called Hardy New Jersey, but some figgers believe its the same as Brooklyn White. I did get a few huge brebas from my first time crop this past summer and a few mains. I have one more main fig now that's swelling to ripeness in Nov!! Why such a lag between main crop, I wonder.

[Red_Sun]

I think this the same as Unk. Sorrento?

[Otis]

Looks like a great fig! Its on the list and as a B'klyn boy, I will have one eventually...

[jessup42]

Great thread here... good info for anyone new needing direction for a good fig that is cheap & usually accessible.

Ripened my 1st Brookyln White and so far the best tasting fruit of the season. I was really surprised, actually. Deep & rich berry notes with rich honey. 94 grams so Big figs can taste great!

[ginamcd]

jrdewhirst Given the good reviews it receives from growers in other areas, I had set out to add Brooklyn White a few years ago. I guess my multiple failed attempts at rooting this one from multiple sources were really for the best. Would have likely ended up in the compost heap after a few years of time invested.

[jrdewhirst]

I think of it as Adriatic-lite. But like mored classic Adriatics -- AJH, Vaslika Sika vs, Sumaki, Paradiso, etc.-- it is just too late here.

[venturabananas]

To me it was more like Adriatic Extra Lite. Closer to the honey end of the flavor spectrum than the berry end. It wasn't in my wheelhouse, so got grafted over.

[Ktrain]

That's good news to me, I have a rooted cutting that's doing pretty good, Though it might be a while before I see goodies.

[BlueEagle1967]

Great thread here... good info for anyone new needing direction for a good fig that is cheap & usually accessible.

Ripened my 1st Brookyln White and so far the best tasting fruit of the season. I was really surprised, actually. Deep & rich berry notes with rich honey. 94 grams so Big figs can taste great!

Brooklyn White didn't handle the rains well here and so far I haven't been very impressed with it. The rains caused the eye to open and attracted insects causing the fruit to spoil. We often get rain here in Eastern PA late in the season so this one is on my cull list, to be honest. I'll give it some time, maybe another year or two, but early results are not favorable, at least for me.

[FigTreeJunkie]

I have my Brooklyn White in a SIP pot with plastic over the top to prevent rain from getting in. This setup makes sure there is water available, but never get too much.

[jrdewhirst]

<< Fwiw this is the njfigfarm westfield yellow that was tagged as bklyn white. Bass’s bklyn white is lagging way behind.. >>

The devil is in the details

Does this mean you we're not sure that this even is Brooklyn White?

[jessup42]

When mountainfigs & ascpete both confirm, then im convinced. It is true, though, its a njff tree. Italian Westfield Yellow unk

More important noteworthy info is that this is Potted, not in ground. My only inground fruiting tree is Florea which began only a week ago. Chicago hardy also fruited a few days sgo. All other Ingrounders are lagging too. Potted plants fruiting for amonth

[Rewton]

BlueEagle1967 I have a Brooklyn White that I got from mountainfigs years ago. This is its 5th season in the ground. During that time it had one good year. I think we had little or no rain between late August and late September. The past couple years it has been a disaster unfortunately. We have had too much wet, humid weather and it doesn't fare well at all under those conditions as you noted. I'm also contemplating culling mine. Longue d'Aout and Niagara Black have similar issues and are also on the chopping block. It's a same because all three are excellent figs here if the weather cooperates.

[BlueEagle1967]

Steve, completely agree on Niagara Black and LdA. They responded the same as BW to the wet weather and it's a shame because the trees were loaded with fruit. I'm giving them another year because they are nice figs, even if they're the same or very similar.

[Red_Sun]

For yellow figs, I do not have a lot to compare. But the Princeton Honey unk. (Codit's White Marseilles) is an excellent white fig for the North. It is hardy, mid-season and does not split in rain. It looks ugly, but very sweet.

Aaron D's Italian Yellow Westfield appears to be just like Brooklyn White. I planted it ground in May and the figs are quarter size now. Not sure if any can ripen. It is large and a fast grower. It has a lot of potential. It should be as good as Brooklyn White, or even better.

[eboone]

Brooklyn White did not work here either, too late and honestly there are better white figs

[zone5figger]

Both Albo and Iran Candy are earlier light figs, I culled BW as it was too late and a splitter

[cvarcher]

stay tuned. My Dads Hardy New Jersey is loaed with large figs (main) and was in ground last year for its first winter with zero die back this spring. Its about 7ft tall .