Get Your Figs Now, While They’re Ultra-Ripe

The dog days of August and September may be an ordeal for humans, but they are peak season for figs.

Figs require that kind of intense heat to ripen properly. And now, in farmers markets around the Southland, there are ultra-ripe specimens that are supremely delicious--but perishable and not especially pretty.

It’s hard for Americans to understand, accustomed as we are to cosmetically perfect fruit, that the worst-looking figs taste the best. Firm, smooth-skinned examples, as picked for commercial shipment, are dry and unpleasantly vegetal. On the other hand, soft figs with spotted, tattered skins and perhaps a drop of honeyed liquid oozing from the bottom have marvelously sweet, jam-like pulp.

Most exquisite are the sunburned, slightly shriveled fruits, partly dried on the tree, which have rich, concentrated, figgy flavor that all but begs you to eat one after another.

The Adriatic fig is the variety to look for. It is one of the finest types for eating fresh, though it is more often dried for fig paste. This is a shame. The fig is small, with thin green skin, and it has flesh like strawberry jelly and a tinge of acidity that adds complexity to its flavor. When you find these, buy them and eat them as they are or sliced over ice cream.

Black Mission, the commonest fig at this time, has a distinctive wild, “foxy” taste. Flattish, yellow-green Calimyrna is large and lusciously sweet but somewhat bland as a fresh fruit; drying intensifies its honeyed, nutty flavor. Kadota has similarly mild pulp but a thicker skin, so it is best eaten peeled.

Even under ideal circumstances--good varieties, grown in prime areas, in peak season--not every fig in a given batch will achieve perfection.

Field-packed containers usually contain some unripe fruits; if left in a warm area, these will soften a bit, but never make great eating. Another cause of erratic quality is less evident at the market: In the 100-degree-plus days of a Fresno summer, trees demand irrigation, but fruits from just-watered orchards may have less intense flavor. The best strategy is to buy one basket, sample a few figs, and invest heavily only if some, at least, are heavenly.

Figs, like most fruits, taste best at room temperature, but if you want to keep ripe ones more than a day, they need to be refrigerated. It is also wise to cut open or test-nibble each fig before devouring it, to make sure that it is not infected with mold or sour from fermentation.

Many farmers market vendors sometimes sell very ripe figs; these are two of the most likely sources, and some of the markets where they sell:

Avila & Sons (Black Mission, Kadota and dried Calimyrna): Beverly Hills (North Canon Drive between Clifton and Dayton ways), Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Santa Monica (Pico and Cloverfield boulevards), Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Silver Lake (Sunset and Griffith Park boulevards), Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

MB Farms (Adriatic and Black Mission): Encino (17400 Victory Blvd.), Sundays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Hollywood (Ivar Avenue between Sunset and Hollywood boulevards), Sundays, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Irvine (Campus Drive at Bridge Road), Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Long Beach Downtown (Broadway at Promenade North), Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Westchester (West 87th Street at Sepulveda Eastway), Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Westwood (Weyburn Avenue and Westwood Boulevard), Thursdays, 1 to 7 p.m.