black berbera : the sweetest fig

Of all the varieties of fig that i grow which is already fruiting Black Berbera is the tastiest and the sweetest. This is also the most expensive variety that i bought followed by black madeira.Both are from Portugal. This is the main crop, unfortunately since the plant is small it only bear 2 fruits.

White Brooklyn Italian

That is the name given to a variety of fig that i grow.  I bought this cutting from Israel; the seller bought this cutting from USA who in turn got it from an Italian immigrant who settled in Brooklyn a long time ago.  And now its progeny made Malaysia its home. This is a white fig variety, medium eye, big size and most importantly it is sweet and prolific. Due to climatic difference this fig is not white but yellowish brown  with  red blush. Its fruit is beautiful as well as flavourful, very much enjoyed by my 13 months old daughter.

prolific tree

red blush on  ripe fruit

leaf has 5 finger like lobe

Ripe figs show skin crack

sweet and juicy amber coloured flesh

yummy

Ahem! any more ripe fig on the tree?

Fruit of my labour

I'm very busy lately hence no post for a while  but never too busy check and pluck ripe fig every day.   Since last 3 months i start picking ripe home-grown figs. Out of 70 odd pots of 31 varieties of fig that i have, 15 fig trees are fruiting and in various stage of maturity. However the harvest is not bountiful since only 1 to 2 figs ripen every day which is barely enough to feed my 11 months old daughter.  

hollier

black malta

 Of the varieties that i have, black Madeira (i recently was informed that it is most likely Coll de Dama Negra) is very slow grower but it never disappoint me because it never stopped fruiting (i have 20 plants) and it is very sweet.   

barely ripe black madeira

starting to ripe

            

honey oozing out from the eye

ripe black madeira

My daughter favourite is celesta, the fruit is slightly bigger than big marble but the fruit is beautiful with its violet colour skin and  is very sweet, no wonder it is known as sugar fig. Currently i have 5 plants and planning to increase to 10 so that it is adequate to feed my family.

under the full sun the colour is darker

celesta grown in partial shade

Sal’s is the first fig that ripens; it is a sweet dark fig which also taste good. I let it hang on the tree till it is almost shrivel, umm!!Yummy.

Ripe Madeleine fig is beautiful as well as sweet and big but Texas blue giant is bigger. 

     

madeleine fig

                                        

perfectly ripe madeleine fig

                                            

I was so surprised when i taste Texas blue giant fig because it is good. According to my reading big fig has mediocre taste.  Its eye is partially open  and tend to rot once the beetle get into it. For the time being i have to wrap the fruit but later the plants go in a greenhouse. 

almost and fully ripe texas blue giant

rotten fig; no thanks to fig beetle

 This is the only green fig that ripe so far, an unknown portugese fig, i call it green Portugal. the color will turn to light green when it is ripe, sweet and have a nice acid and sugar balance.

green portugal

 Negronne is another dark fig, the color is as dark as Sal's and it is almost as sweet as celesta.

Negronne

This is another dark fig which i lost its tag. The fruit turn from green to purple yesterday so it was just barely ripe but i couldn't help myself.  I pluck it, even though it is not juicy yet it is really sweet. I think it will be sweeter than celesta. I'll have to wait for a few more days for the verdict, got to try a really ripe fig.

unknown dark fig

So far i'm very pleased with all the varieties that are already fruiting. My advice to fig hobbyist in Malaysia is not to get caught up in fig fever.  Study each variety characteristic so that you have a cultivar that is compatible with our hot and humid climate as well as tasty fruit.