What to look for in fig varieties?
The black figs are the most reliable for eating fresh. These are mainly Black Mission and Brown Turkey varieties. Missions can be exquisite, and Turkeys are usually very good if you are sure to get them very ripe. You can tell the difference between the two because the Missions are generally smaller and a dark purple, almost black. Turkeys are usually bigger and paler.
Green figs can be either hardly worth the effort or among the best figs you'll ever taste. Among the latter are Adriatics, which have a tender skin and a strawberry jam centre. Calimyrnas can be good if they are fully ripe, but otherwise they and Kadotas are best dried or canned; they have tough skins and rather insipid flavour when eaten fresh. If you get these, peeling before eating will improve the quality. Unfortunately, telling them apart can be difficult. The best solution is to taste one. If they're terrific, congratulations, you've probably found an Adriatic.
There is a bit of very good news. Really exquisite figs called Panachée or Tiger are now starting to be sold in retail markets. Look for them. The skin has lemon-lime-coloured stripes, and the insides look and taste like raspberry jam mixed with a little honey. Robert Schuller of speciality produce distributor Melissa's says, they should be in all Gelson's, Bristol Farms and Lazy Acres stores as well as Bob's Market in Santa Monica and Vintage Grocers in Malibu.
Really ripe figs are extremely tender and may even have tears in the skin. Look for a little "tear" of juice at the blossom end. And give them a sniff: The distance between really ripe and over-the-hill is extremely small and you don't want any whiff of fermentation of spoilage.
Source: www.latimes.com