Violet de Solliès (Violet Sollies)

[alanmercieca]

Violet de Solliès (Violet Sollies) (Bordeaux Berry type of flavor and Madeira berry type of flavor)

'Violet de Solliès' has taken on different names in the USA, like 'Violette Sollies' and like 'Violette Soleis', the later appears to be an attempt to represent the pronunciation of Solliès, the proper pronunciation for Solliès is 'Sol lee eze'. The names sometimes they have 'de' in the name and sometimes they don't because 'de' in French means 'of' in English, 'Solliès' can be spelled with or without the ˴ over the e, either way it's the true name. All the ˴ does is represent a longer pronunciation of a letter.

'Violet de Solliès' is a high production fig that is often called ‘Figue de Solliès’, or 'Solliès-Pont' by the locals, rarely is it called 'Bourjassotte Noire', or 'Noire de Soliès' by the locals.

'Solliés-Pont' is a village in the South of France located in 'Departement du Var', Solliès-Pont is located in 'Vallée du Gapeau (the Gapeau Valley)', 'Vallée du Gapeau' it's self has a perfect micro-climate for the 'Violet de Solliès' cultivar to produce top notch figs. 'Solliés-Pont' is where most French figs are harvested from, 'Violet de Solliès' makes up 75% of the fig production that is produced to be sold, most of those 'Violet de Solliès' figs are exported outside of 'Solliés-Pont', most figs eaten in 'Solliés-Pont' are from farmers markets, or grown at people's homes. They have a huge fig festival in August every year. The fig trees themselves are easily available in the entire South East of France at nurseries and at street vendors.

Under the name 'Figue de Solliès’ this cultivar has a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), has a AOP (Appellation d'origine protégée), has an AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) and has a PDO (Protected origin) which means that no other part of the world can claim this cultivar as their own helping to insure that no other place can steal profits from 'Solliès-Pont' by selling the fruit under false origin claims, any figs distributed for profit under the name 'Figues de Solliès' or under the name 'Figue de Solliès’ must originate from the 'Solliès-Pont' region of France!

'Violet de Solliès' often produces figs the first year in a pot, and often produces the first year if planted in the ground early enough in the year. The skin is fine does not crack easily yet can have white cracks, can be sensitive and burst if there is excess water in the soil or a very strong dew.

The figs of the 'Violet de Solliès' cultivar are the 'frosty shiny glossy figs', the frostiness under certain lighting looks bluish, the sturdier fig that came from a hybridization with a lighter colored fig that was once in the 'Solliés-Pont' area that they called 'sauvage', which means wild, I believe that 'Noire de Barbentane' was hybridized with the wild 'sauvage' fig to create the 'Violet de Solliès' cultivar.

'Violet de Solliès' produces very unique figs most of which have no stems what so ever, yet some of the figs do have short almost non-existent thick stems that are attached to a short and narrow neck. The fig eye on this cultivar's figs steadily opens as the fruit ripens, eventually the eye highly resembles a star shape, when the figs are fully ripe a drop forms at the eye like a tear revealing it's full ripeness, that drop is what is called fig honey, at full ripeness it's juicy figs with dry skin keep firm yet flexible, then melts in the mouth, are rather soft and tender in texture unlike figs that are mushy when fully ripe.

The figs have a very complex and delicate fruity flavor of ripe banana, watermelon, honeydew melon, strawberry, other red fruits and so on. Flavor of the figs have been said to resemble the flavor of a 'Black Madeira' fig and a 'Noire de Caromb fig'. It does not have a strong strawberry jam flavor that you'd find in a 'Col de Dame'. The seeds are not crunchy, seeds are small, it's almost like there are no seeds while eating despite the fact that there are plenty of seeds in each fig, the plump flesh is the color of bright red strawberry jam which has a slight orange tone to it, it has a perfect fruity balance of acidity and sugar that is too complex to describe well, by far one of the best tasting figs in the world with a delicately perfumed flesh, such a perfect balance is a rare occurrence even in Europe, it's figs make a great fig jam because they hold up well to cooking and they have a great taste and texture for jam, it's one of the best fig cultivars in all of France, in all of Europe, and even world wide.

This fig tree is a Unifère which means that it produces only once in the year, for this cultivar the 1 crop is the main crop, in 'Solliès-Pont' the first ripe figs start to show up in mid August and production can continue until mid November. It's figs transports well, yet only lasts days after being picked fully ripe which is impressive yet can not accommodate time hungry transport, they are very attractive looking and are large in size, a majority of them are sphere shaped, much like the shape of a partially flattened water droplet, and sometimes one of them can be hot air balloon like in shape, their skin is a dark violet with a blackish tone in some areas and in some lighting and the figs easily peel, the veins of the figs range from dark purple to black, the skin color is at least 80% violet.

The skin of the figs tears easily while being picked. For the figs to be picked, one must twist the figs, in order to detach them from the tree.

Traditionally 'Violet de Solliès' must have a °Brix of 14 or greater which helps to insure the perfect acidity and sugar balance, traditionally the figs of this cultivar must be at least 40 millimeters (1.57 inches) in size to be sold fresh at a normal price and can be as big as 80 millimeters (3.149 inches) and weigh 70 to 80 grams ( 2.469 ounces - 2.8 ounces), they are heavy weight compared to many other fig cultivars,'Violet de Solliès' fruit of lesser standards than the traditional standards is either sold at a lower price fresh like this

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or they get sold for use in processed foods. 'Violet de Solliès' figs that weigh too little, that are not sweet enough or that look bad, they are lesser than the standards.

'figues la barquette' means 'container of figs' in French.

France has great figs, there is no fig wasps where 'Violet de Solliès' traditionally grows, yet it's considered to be one of the best figs in all of France, as well as in all of the world without the aid of the fig wasp.

Like in 'Malta', like in 'Sicily', like in 'Greece' and so on 'Solliés-Pont France' has a lot of limestone in the soil, unlike those places 'Solliés-Pont' has Bauxite in the soil (a type of Aluminium). Soil in 'Solliés-Pont' is loamy and has no clay, yet in some parts of Europe some of the best figs are produced in soil that is not loamy, that has clay in the soil, and they have no Bauxite so I am not sure how much those things matter for having the best figs, I did learn that clay does help prevent nutrient run off which in the long run means less work. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone in 'Solliés-Pont' would be 10b if they rated the winter temperatures there.

These photos were taken of the real 'Violet de Solliès' cultivar, and they were taken in the 'Solliés-Pont' area of France, photo taken fig season 2011.

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photo taken fig season 2011.

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photo taken fig season 2011.

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Photo taken fig season 2011.

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Taken August 24th 2016

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Here is a photo of some it's leaves, the square tiles are 12 inches, this photo was taken September 17th 2016

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Here is a photo of the tree it's self taken April 16th 2015 shortly after it was pruned that April.

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This photo was taken August 24th 2016.

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The same fig tree, photo taken fig season 2011.

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Wow up to 12 Euros per tree, photo taken October 12th, 2014.

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There is a fig cultivar called 'Noire de Barbentane', it's a fig cultivar from France that highly resembles 'Violet de Solliès', this fig cultivar is found in the village of Barbentane, a village close to Solliès-Pont, it starts producing two weeks before 'Violet de Solliès', it is nearly identical to 'Violet de Solliès', not is good as 'Violet de Solliès' in taste as well as in richness, the taste is more simple than 'Violet de Solliès'. This cultivar is commonly mistaken for 'Violet de Solliès' and is commonly given the name 'Bourjasotte Noire', 'Bourjasotte Noire' is really just another name for 'Violet de Solliès' as is 'Noire de Soliès'. - 'Noire de Barbentane' has a different neck shape and a wider neck than 'Violet de Solliès' figs have, figs of the two cultivars are about the same size, figs of both have the same fig appearance, the same fig shape, figs of both are firm, both have a good tolerance for transport, figs of both make a good commercial cultivar and 'Noire de Barbentane' has a better resistance to moisture than 'Violet de Solliès' has. 'Noire de Barbentane' is higher production than 'Violet de Solliès' is.

Diameter of this fig tree cultivar at maturity is around 6 meters to more than 10 meters (19.685 feet to more than 32.808 feet) Height at maturity is around 3.5 meters to 8 meters (11.48 feet to 26.246 feet) so it can make a great shade tree if you let it grow big enough. This cultivar can handle down to at least -18 degrees Celsius (-0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) which is upper zone 6b for cold hardiness.

'Violet de Solliès' has large mostly 5 lobed leaves, they are serrated, and 'Noire de Barbentane' leaves are large and serrated as well yet they are mostly 3 lobed.

I technically do not have this cultivar yet, yet there is much confusion out there what it's really like, hopefully this answers everyone's questions, since I know of someone who has a friend with a tree of the real cultivar, in the right area I was able to get lots of info, and photos some of which are not anywhere else on the Internet. I also found some great info online. Thank you Mary for the help!

[Rodrigo Jesus]

Great report on the variety, I live in the state of Nuevo León in Mexico and I have the VdS, this year in February I got a cutting from a reputable FigBid collector so I assume it is authentic. I root well, a little slowly but well, I rooted it in Peat Moss, right now that we are July 9, 2022 and I planted it in the patio of my house, I made a hole of 70x70x70 cm, decompact the soil and add half of fertile land of half and half surface, the fig tree is growing very beautiful, with a lot of vigor and healthy, I water it every day, in the end it goes very well, in an opportunity I will publish photographs, as you wish if you have more information to share updated please do so.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to receiving your reply...

[alanmercieca]

It's been recently discovered that it's even harder to make sure that you have the real thing than previously thought, rooting cuttings can actually change the dna of a fig cultivar easily, the DNA of some fig cultivars change more easily than others when rooting cuttings. The way of cloning that is least likely to change the DNA is air layering. As you know 'unfortunately air layering is not always possible'.

Of course whenever a fig tree is struggling, it's dna may change, even on a tiny Island like Gozo or Malta there can be different strains of the same fig cultivar for this reason. Then there are other things that don't necessarily change the dna, like how much it rains, how much sun light each plant gets, different soil, different problem's in the soil, and so on, that make it seem like a different fig stain or cultivator and it's not really. Also many different fig cultivars have been claimed to be the same, often by accident, sometimes to make more money. All we can do is try our best.

[Rodrigo Jesus]

What you mention do you have scientific information? to prove it, in your case please share it. On the other hand, the form of propagation that you mention is that of air layering, right?, that is, the already woody branch from the previous year that is cut and that bears the detachment of the bark ring where it takes root? Do you have any studies that prove it or are they just conjectures that other people have made and commented on?
Thanks and best regards.

[alanmercieca]

What you mention do you have scientific information? to prove it, in your case please share it. On the other hand, the form of propagation that you mention is that of air layering, right?, that is, the already woody branch from the previous year that is cut and that bears the detachment of the bark ring where it takes root? Do you have any studies that prove it or are they just conjectures that other people have made and commented on?
Thanks and best regards.

There is a guy that does a lot of research on studies, and he knows way more than the average person does, he's seen a study that discusses it, yet he's forgotten where it is.

I am not sure if you have heard of the 'Wolfskill Experimental Orchard' in California. They have gatherings there every year letting people come in and try the fruits, one gathering is for figs. It's a university run orchard, there was a lot of talk there one year about rooting cuttings is not so reliable.

See here https://growingfruit.org/t/building-a-f ... anmercieca Look for the part that starts out like this "Another annoying fact about figs is that cuttings are a poor way to propagate them"

[Rodrigo Jesus]

Greetings, I already read what the people of that link you sent me commented, but I have another perspective of the situation. The fact of propagating by cuttings should not modify the DNA of the plants, etc., but by doing so we see that in many cases it causes a setback in the plant, the nature of the fig trees is to be in their habitat with natural conditions still in good condition. adverse etc, but there is something that I have not read from those people, fig trees require a ground connection, although it is incredible, being in a pot or in a container is not connected to ground, there is a factor of electrical charges that can only be They give at the time of planting in the soil or soil, as well as they can absorb nutrients from the soil with the help of micro-organisms of soil flora. Growing in containers no matter how much we fertilize or care for them is not the same. I have seen that some growers here in Mexico who do it in greenhouses use volcanic stone or called tezontlecmo substrate together with coconut fiber for reasons of good electrical conductivity. etc. What all these people write in that link who do not take into account that the plants were planted directly in the ground and obviously have the type of soil, temperatures and seasons of the year more similar to Mediterranean conditions or close to it. Another observation I make is that the fullness that we expect the plant to have is far from it in many other cases. Another factor is the temperature of the earth, which on average is 19.5 C and is very constant (from 19 to 19.5), in no container are you going to achieve it, or they are higher or lower and on average it is always fluctuating. I invite you not to take for granted what they say that more than scientific studies are their ideologies that do not take into account the true origin of the plant and that obviously it will never be achieved in a pot, but if it advances when you return it to earth and that does not modify the DNA. Making cuttings in adequate conditions in all aspects is not bad at all, I have seen fig trees that even presented the Mosaic Virus in a dramatic way, and that when planted in soil with adequate sunlight, good water and favorable natural conditions, it overcomes the condition which has in a few years... I have problem free fig trees if I just give them a proper home. I invite you not to pay attention to the assumptions made by these people who make comments so that we do not lose at any time the most important consideration to take into account, which is the very nature of the Fig Trees.

[Rodrigo Jesus]

¿Do you have update pictures and information of the VdS Fig tree?
Greetings.