Celeste
Also known as Celestial, Sugar fig
A small, very sweet fig from the American South with violet-brown skin and a tightly closed eye that keeps rain and insects out.
- Skin
- Violet-brown
- Flesh
- Rosy amber
- Size
- Small
- Flavour
- Very sweet, clean, gentle
- Ripening
- Main crop mid to late summer
- Best use
- Fresh eating, preserves
Celeste is small, sweet and tidy. The skin is violet to brown, the flesh is rosy amber, and the eye is nearly closed, which is why it copes better than many figs with humid, rainy summers.
It is a southern favourite and reasonably cold tolerant, though it tends to drop its breba crop and can drop fruit in a hot, dry spell. The fruit is on the small side, so a jam batch takes more picking, but the flavour rewards it.
Origin
Long grown in the south-eastern United States, particularly Louisiana.
Crops and growth
- Breba crop
- Usually drops before ripening
- Main crop
- Good; ripens earlier than many varieties
- Cold tolerance
- Good
- Growth habit
- Medium, spreading