Choosing A Fig Variety For Incredible Figs: Comprehensive Guide
There are thousands of fig varieties out there, which can feel overwhelming, especially if you're new to growing them. Let me simplify things and help you choose a fig variety you'll love.
Choosing the right fig variety is one of the most important decisions for any fig grower. This choice directly affects the quality of the fruit you’ll harvest. It influences the size, shape, color, flavor, texture, and ripening time of your figs—and even whether they ripen at all. It also determines how hardy your tree will be, especially if you live in a less-than-ideal climate for growing figs. Picking the right variety can make the difference between having a productive tree or no fruit at all. After all, everyone wants a fig tree that delivers delicious fruit.
I’ve personally grown and tested hundreds of fig varieties over the years, often at great expense, so I could share what I’ve learned. I’ve also spoken with growers from different regions and learned from their successes and challenges. My goal is to help you figure out which fig varieties are best for your climate.
If you’re considering more than one fig variety—which I highly recommend—you’ll enjoy the benefits of the incredible genetic diversity within Ficus carica. This means you can explore a wide range of flavors and textures, making it a fun and rewarding experience for food lovers.
Another key factor is when your figs ripen. In my Philadelphia garden, I’ve been able to extend the harvest window to four months, covering most of the six frost-free months in my growing season. This long harvest period is one of the fig tree’s amazing traits, and you can achieve it too by choosing varieties that ripen at different times.
This article will explore these factors and guide you in selecting the right fig variety for your location and goals. With careful planning, you’ll enjoy an abundant and diverse harvest of figs for years to come.
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Location-Specific Fig Variety Recommendations
First, let's cover some great recommendations based on your location.
Humid Climates:
Other than the cold, moisture is the number one enemy of fig trees. I cannot stress this enough. I would only choose varieties that can withstand or avoid moisture without losing fruit quality in these areas. It’s heartbreaking when you put in time, money, and effort to find that your harvest is splitting, molding, fermenting, and being attacked by pests because you chose the wrong variety.
Instead, grow fig varieties with a long, slender shape, skin that sheds water rather than absorbing it, a closed eye, and a short hang time. The link below has all about these traits and at least 25 fig variety recommendations.
Do you qualify? Check your location's annual rainfall (over 25 inches per year, with 2.5-3 inches of rain each month during the summer and fall). This amount of rainfall is generally found in the Northeastern, Southern, and parts of the Midwestern & Pacific Northwestern US.
Cold Climates:
Unless you’re growing them in pots, I recommend choosing hardy fig varieties that can withstand lower temperatures (0-5F). Few fig varieties if any can reliably survive a winter low below 0F. Therefore, protection is required in zones 5 & 6; in zone 7A, you can plant hardy varieties without protection. In 7B, most fig varieties don’t require winter protection. A comprehensive list of hardy fig varieties can be found below.
Short Season Climates:
Fig trees produce two different crops of figs, the breba crop and the main crop allowing them to be grown where you wouldn’t think possible. A minimum of 120 frost-free days is necessary for the breba crop to ripen reliably or 150 frost-free days for the main crop.
Related: Early Ripening Fig Varieties
You can also use pruning techniques to encourage an earlier fig harvest. The video and guide below will show you exactly how.
Hot & Dry Climates:
If you live in a hot and dry climate, grow the best-tasting fig varieties. You've got the perfect climate for figs. Consider a wide spectrum of flavor profiles, textures, and harvest times. You'll want to grow breba-producing fig varieties and late varieties to fill in the gaps. The best-tasting fig varieties are described in the link below.
Related: The Best Tasting Fig Varieties
Let’s put it all together now and show you my thought process.
Location-Specific Examples:
I live in the Philadelphia area. It’s cold during the winter (zone 7A), and humid during the summer (40 inches of annual rainfall) with a six-month frost-free growing season. Therefore, to achieve the best fruit quality, eating experience, and performance, I should only grow fig varieties that can thrive under those three constraints.
Take Seattle as an example. While the winters are mild enough for fig trees, the rainy season starts in September and gets heavier in October and November. Seattle has 230 frost-free days, which is 50 more than Philadelphia, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Seattle's climate is milder and lacks the heat that figs thrive on.
In Seattle, expect the breba crop to ripen around early August. With heavy rains starting in September, it’s best to focus on growing breba-producing varieties for the highest quality fruit. Late main crop varieties won’t ripen, and early or midseason main crop varieties will likely struggle with the excess moisture.
Growing figs in Eastern Texas? You’ve got the same concerns about moisture I do without the cold winters. What about Western Texas? Now, you’ve got none of the concerns about moisture allowing you to grow pretty much any fig variety you’d like. Even the best-tasting varieties most growers will struggle with in other areas of the country.
Now that you know how to choose a variety that will perform well at your location, let’s go over flavor profiles, taste preferences, and textures.
Flavor Profile, Taste & Texture-Specific Fig Variety Recommendations
First, let me dispel a common myth:
Each fig variety tastes different, however, its flavor can be correlated with its flesh color. For example, red-fleshed figs usually taste like berries, and amber or yellow-fleshed figs usually fall under a flavor profile called, "honey figs."
Mistakenly, uneducated fig enthusiasts believe that a fig's skin color determines the flavor. I've often heard that there are only white or black figs. Or there are only light figs or dark figs, and they prefer one or the other.
Flavor Profiles:
To make it easier for new growers to choose a fig variety that matches their taste, experienced fig growers have grouped similar-tasting figs into categories called flavor profiles. These profiles are a helpful starting point for finding a variety you'll enjoy.
However, flavor profiles aren't set in stone. Factors like how you grow your figs, pollination, and your local environment can all affect their taste. Think of these profiles as general guides to help you pick the right variety.
Related: Fig Tree Watering | How Much Water, When to Water & Why Excess Water Leads to Watered-Down Figs!
Most growers agree on three main flavor profiles: Sugar, Honey, and Berry.
The beautiful fig flavor profiles 18 x 24" poster can be delivered to your home. Check it out, here.
Over time I’ve created an additional 6 flavor profiles each with variations and combinations of the 3 main flavor profiles to create intriguing hybrids. For more information on the other flavor profiles, check out the full list of them, here.
Texture:
Similar to the different flavor profiles each fig variety can fall under, you will find a variation of textures within Ficus Carica. Some have a fluffy, meaty, jammy, cakey, buttery, or jelly-like/congealed gel texture.
My favorite fig variety to eat has a cakey or jammy texture. A fig is usually well-ripened, somewhat dried, and has the right genetics to achieve this texture. The Coll de Dama figs for example have a very thick pastry-like texture that I often compare to pancake batter. The Coll de Dama figs are a must-grow for those wanting to understand the genetic diversity of figs.
Other examples of unique textures are:
A fig called Barbillone has a fluffy, light, and airy texture.
Longue d’Aout and White Triana have a jelly-like texture.
Brianzolo Rosso has a creamy texture.
Other fig varieties like Da Ponte, Dels Ermitans, Pastiliere, Black Madeira, and Castel Trosino can produce more nectar than your average fig, altering the texture to a “looser” or watered-down jam closer to thick syrup instead.
The skin of a fig varies in thickness and texture offering additional dimensions of flavor. You can find bitterness, spice, nuttiness, coconut flavor, or figgy essences within the skin of figs.
For example:
A fig variety called Azores Dark has a skin that’s so thin that it’s almost nonexistent.
LSU Tiger and Black Madeira when well-ripened have a pleasant chewy and thick skin contrasting with the pulp. Think of a slipskin grape. Upon the first bite, the pulp slips away from the skin creating two different textures.
Now we can move on to choosing fig varieties for an extended harvest.
Fig Variety Recommendations to Extend the Harvest Window
One of the easiest ways to extend your harvest of any fruiting plant is to add varieties that fruit earlier or later than your normal harvest.
To get figs to ripen earlier, include varieties that reliably produce a breba crop in your plan. Breba figs ripen 30-45 days before the main crop, and choosing varieties that ripen at different times can help.
Here’s a handy chart on when fig varieties ripen in Philadelphia to help you understand how choosing fig varieties can extend your harvest.
July 1st - Early breba: Brianzolo Rosso
July 10th - Mid-season breba: Longue d’Aout
July 20th - Late breba: Sefrawi
August 1st - Early main: Ronde de Bordeaux
August 15th - Mid-season main: Smith
September 1st - Late main: Adriatic
September 15th - Very late main: Hivernenca
Here are more:
July 1st - Early breba: Moro de Caneva
July 10th - Mid-season breba: Dotatto
July 20th - Late breba: De la Gloria
August 1st - Early main: Pastiliere
August 15th - Mid-season main: Green Michurinska
September 1st - Late main: Coll de Dama
September 15th - Very late main: Dels Ermitans
July 1st - Early breba: Barbillone
July 10th - Mid-season breba: Violette de Bordeaux
July 20th - Late breba: White Adriatic
August 1st - Early main: Teramo
August 15th - Mid-season main: Hative d’Argenteuil
September 1st - Late main: Molla Vermella
September 15th - Very late main: Tia Penya
