The immature figs of light skin figs and dark skin figs both, prior to ripening, usually have light green skin. When figs swell dramatically during their final weeks of ripening they achieve their soft and ripe color stage. Ripe fig skin color may vary not only across variety but within varieties, whether from fig to… Continue reading Shades of Improved Celeste

Just as fig varieties are sometimes known by their pulp-based flavors – honey, sugar, berry, etc – fig types are also referred to by the basic color of their skin. At the most basic, figs are often called either light figs or dark figs depending upon their skin color. Ripe figs with yellow or green skin… Continue reading The Colors of 18 Dark Skin Figs

Tis the season to clone new fig trees from cuttings – scion wood, about 6 to 12 inches long. Fig trees are one of the easiest trees or plants to clone, using short lengths of small limbs, anywhere between a quarter inch to an inch thick, or thinner. No rooting hormone needed. Rooting fig tree cuttings is… Continue reading Rooting Fig Tree Cuttings

While fig skin color ranges widely from bright yellow to black, fig pulp color ranges too, if somewhat less so, from bright yellow to maroon and purple. Figs with the darkest pulps are the punch berry and citric berry figs, while the figs with the lightest pulp are the agave figs, the lightest of the… Continue reading Fig Pulp, Dark and Light

Back to summer:

Fig bushes in snow. The past four winters, all fig trees here have been top-killed to the soil line, apart from limbs bent over to the ground and buried in mulch. Dropping briefly to about 8 degrees Fahrenheit recently, the temperatures this winter have probably not quite been low enough to kill all fig wood above… Continue reading Wintertime Fig Trees

The brightest figs are the honey figs. Some bright figs for the darkest days of the year in the northern hemisphere, a few honey figs:

Just a look back to mid September at a diverse pick, from left to right, top to bottom: the citric berry Ischia Green, the honey berry Brooklyn White, the citric berry Nordland, the agave Mary Lane, the resin berry Violette de Bordeaux, and the sugar fig Palermo Red.

Sometimes if not perfectly ripened, certain green/red figs may have a bitter (resinous or tannic) taste that seems to come from the skin, or just underneath it: Conadria, White Triana, Lyndhurst White, and Emerald Strawberry (143-36), for example. These figs may be considered a light skin counterpart to the dark skin “Bordeaux” mode, tannin berry to resin… Continue reading Tannin Berry Figs

Figs with the lightest shades of fig pulp tend to have the most mild flavors. Some of the sugar and caramel flavor figs despite their dark skin, along with some of the light skin honey and agave flavor figs, have the lightest pulps and most mild flavors. Top: Lattarula, LSU Purple, LSU Purple, Long Yellow, Mary… Continue reading Figs with the Lightest Pulp