Violette de Bordeaux: 𝐀 𝐅𝐢𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 (3' tall)

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑖𝑥 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠.

𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬
Regarding the discovery of this fancy fig, this story was provided by The Arboretum Company: "This fig created a sensation and fairly ignited the fig renaissance in California when we discovered it on a rare fruit growers' journey to the doomed fig orchard at UC Davis in summer 1987. Tramping through the weeds in August temperatures, we were ready to go no farther after tasting the fruits of this tree. That tree provided cuttings for us the next winter, and all now grown in America are its progeny ... the rest is history."

Indeed, the rest is history, but that is just one tale of discovery for this precious fig. Its tale goes back much farther than the 20th century, where it is first described by Jean Baptiste de la Quintinie, famous gardener at the Château de Versailles: "of a violet color and long but not very big, the pulp red and reasonably good." This man's literal job was supplying decadent food to the Sun Emperor Louis XIV's table, a man of rich and snobbish taste. If he says something is "reasonably good," it to the rest of us mere common folk means "Dig in!"

𝐅𝐢𝐠 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬
This fig is known as a "dwarf type." What this means is that instead of focusing its energy on new growth, growing taller or wider, it instead focuses majority of its energy for the year into fruit development. This means a lot of very tasty fruit in the middle of the season, but it means that the tree is also ideal for home production. Its compact nature fits snugly into even the smallest yard or apartment balcony, providing delicious, healthy snacks for years or decades to come!

The main crop yields a fig that is dark black, small (40-50g) but elongated. Its flesh is a wonderful red hue, with a sweet and rich fig flavor. Its flavor includes an acidic tang that I really like. This quality is lacking in the breba (first) crop, but many people still find the breba crop to be nearly as good as the main crop. The breba produces a fig that is slightly larger in size. The high quality breba makes this fig an ideal candidate for northern latitudes where the growing season is too short to ripen a main crop fig. It is also very cold resistant, as evidenced by its culitvation in Paris and London. 

Rigo says this fig is "[b]est tasting when it is starting to dry/wrinkle on the tree. The flavors become rich and some what complex. The fruit is small and has a small eye. Not so tolerant to constant rains but can handle a little. Black skin and a bit chewy and red interior with rich, jammy texture."

Ross Raddi lists Violette de Bordeaux as one of his top-tier mid-season figs. He also includes it at #6 in his top ten figs list of all time. He calls it the "old standard" and says it "is adapted to almost any climate and everybody loves them." He also says that he knows people with over 100 fig varieties who still insist VDB is one of their favorite figs.

In addition to being somewhat rain-resistant, it is also resistant to souring.

𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠
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