Black Madeira

Black Madeira, also called Figo Preto ("black fig" in Portuguese), is closely tied to a fig grown for over 50 years by an elderly Portuguese immigrant, Mrs. Correia, in the Point Loma neighborhood of San Diego, who brought it from the island of Madeira and called it simply Figo Preto. After she passed away and her home was sold, the original tree was removed, but cuttings had already been collected and rooted by a collector, who believes it to be the same fig now widely known as Black Madeira, though some collectors disagree on whether the two names refer to the identical strain. Separately, UC Davis is documented to have imported a fig from Madeira, Portugal, which a Portuguese grower named Lambo/Lampo claimed was originally called "Violetta." The fruit has a bell-shaped form, black skin sometimes speckled with tiny white dots, and a thick syconium wall that helps it hold its shape and gives it a distinctive bite. The pulp is red, intensely rich, and often described as one of the best-tasting figs available, though the tree is a notably slow grower and the fruit ripens late, from October into November in some climates. Multiple strains circulate under the Black Madeira name from different original source trees (sometimes labeled by grower initials, such as "KK"), and collectors debate whether these represent the same genetic variety or closely related but distinct ones.