Ah, the delights of late Summer. The fig season is starting now, at the end of summer, and figs are sold either fresh off the tree, or else, dried. The ripe fresh fig is full of sumptuous flavours. Heavenly.
The beauty of Mallorcan figs is found in its variety. There are white figs, green figs, red figs, blue figs, violet figs and black figs, plus dozens of in-between varieties. There are Hivernenca, Verdal, Martinenca, Coll de Dama Blanca, Coll de Dama Negre, Paratjal, Aubacó, Rotja, De la Senyora, De la Roca, Galantina, Bordissot Blanca, Bordissot Negre, Cucurella, Morisca, Vecal, Ull de Perdiu, De sa Tira, Blanca Clara, Xina, Perejal, Porquenya and Llimonenca varieties out of a total of some 75 different fig specimen. It is said that there are even too many fig varieties in Mallorca to be classified by European norms. The queen of all figs is rightly called Sa Reina, which to my knowledge will not be ripe until the end of September.
Sadly, though, the Mallorca fig cultivation is in pretty steep decline, as is so much else here related to agricultural matters. You better try some Mallorcan figs; who knows if there will be any in a few years from now.
There will be a village fête dedicated to the dried fig variation, in Lloret de Vistalegre, called Festa des Sequer, usually during the first half of September.
The photo was taken near Vilafranca de Bonany, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: August 27th, 2008. The time was 14:41:07.
