Malta Black ('Elegant Berry, Exotic Berry' flavor fig)

[alanmercieca]

Malta Black ('Elegant Berry, Exotic Berry' flavor fig)

'Chris DiPaola' of the former 'Belleclare Nursery' believed that 'Malta Black' is an old ancestor of 'Celeste', when he retired in 'Long Island New York' he kept the nursery's 'Malta Black' mother tree, which remained one of his very favorite fig tree cultivars. 'George Micallef' bought a tree of this cultivar from the 'former Belleclare Nursery of Plainfield, NY', right before that nursery closed down. He distributed it well for a short time, one of the people that 'George' sent cuttings of the cultivar to was 'Vasile Surugiu' (Herman2'). 'Vasile' has probably distributed this cultivar more than anyone else has. Sometimes this cultivar is called 'Malta Black 35', that is because when the 'Belleclare Nursery' was selling it, it was fig cultivar number 35 on their fig item list.

Some people have falsely believed that 'Malta Black' might be a Mt Etna type of fig yet it's not, it clearly is more like 'Celeste'. Most of it's leaves have 3 lobes and 2 spurs, it's lobes are thick. The 5 biggest veins of each of it's rough edged leaves are unusually thick and greatly stand out. It's leaves are similar to Celeste.

'Malta Black', this cultivar has been said to be easy to grow in a tree form, it is one of the most shade tolerant cultivars of fig trees, yet it will not ripen it's figs as well without a warm sunny location. This cultivar is amazing in the ground 'in unfavorable conditions'. This cultivar is very cold hardy, if the tree does get winter damage this cultivar grows back from winter damage unusually fast, and tiny figlets of this cultivar fills up the tree fast after winter damage.

The new growth of 'Malta Black' turns to hard wood faster than a lot of other cultivars of fig trees do, also this cultivar looses it's leaves before a lot of other cultivars do, both of which prepares 'Malta Black' for the frost as well as for the cold, 'Malta Black' is also later to bud out/grow new vegetation than a lot of other early croppers, this helps it to miss late frosts which makes getting a decent breba crop way more likely. Just the same it still starts to produce ripe breba figs at about the same time as a lot of other early cultivars of fig trees do, because this cultivar only takes about '70 days to ripen' verses 90 days. It's main crop also ripens at about the same time as other early cropping cultivars do. The quality of it's breba figs are almost equal to that of the main crop. This cultivar is high production, more so than some other high producing cultivars. The length of time that it produces is longer than average.

The great powerful taste of it's fresh very rich figs are sort of like a cross between figs of the 'Celeste' cultivar, with 'rich black raspberry jam' or 'rich strawberry jam', accompanied by a lingering after taste, it's powerful flavor is very unique, yet it's flavor does resemble 'Azores Dark', and it's flavor does resemble 'Sultane'! It's small to medium figs are very juicy, and they don't taste watered down! It's figs have a dark red center. It's figs are best when they shrink a little as they ripen, they are sweet yet not too sweet when not perfectly ripe, a little less sweet than 'Ronde De Bordeaux', and 'Kathleen's Black', yet when perfectly ripe 'it's figs become super sweet with about the same level of sweetness as the figs of 'Celeste'. If the figs are perfectly ripe, and if the tree is mature enough then this cultivar can have top-notch figs, the quality of it's figs improves greatly for a while as the tree matures, it's worth waiting for. Otherwise the figs are not top tier. It's figs dry easily on the tree. It's figs are a favorite of hornets, of bees, and of birds. The figs have little to no seed crunch.

'Malta Black' is very split resistant, even with the heaviest and most enduring rains brought in by 'regional Atlantic and Gulf hurricanes' it's figs have not split! The skin of it's figs is dark purple-almost black, that skin is thicker than 'Celeste', and the very tight small eye of it's figs makes them more resistant to rain, and more resistant to moisture than 'Celeste' is and than 'Marseilles black vs' is. Unlike the 'Celeste' cultivar it's figs are not chewy. It's figs are about 2 to 3 times bigger than the figs of 'Celeste', it's figs are about the same size as the figs of 'Marseilles black vs' are.

[pppldj]

Excellent write-up! I have 2 mature Malta Black trees planted on ground. Mine came as cuttings from Vasile(Herman2). I find everything that you have documented to be true, even down to the fact that I don't believe that it is a Mt. Etna variety. A winner and a workhorse that every fig grower should have. No splitting, great taste, quality brebas that don't drop, super prolific, hardy, early, everbearing, what is there not to like?

[pppldj]

Malta Black breba. 6/19/2019. Picked a little early, still good flavor.

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[pppldj]

A Malta Black branch showing lignification. All figs in this picture are main crop. The younger figs are on the newer green wood. 7/19/2018.

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[pppldj]

Malta Black showing how easily it grows into tree form. These trees were not pruned. The one on the left was rooted in a typical upright fashion. The tree on the right was rooted vertically and produced multiple shoots. 6/22/2018.

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[pppldj]

Main crop Malta Black, fig in center. 7/24/2018. This tree was rooted and pot grown in 2016. Planted in ground in 2017. As the tree has matured, the main crop comes on a little earlier.

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[pppldj]

Malta Black main crop. 7/28/2019.

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[alanmercieca]

Malta Black breba. 6/19/2019. Picked a little early, still good flavor.

Did the stems fall off?

[pppldj]

Did the stems fall off?

No. The stem was cut very close to the fig.

[pppldj]

I would love to know why 'Chris DiPaola' thought Malta Black was an ancestor to Celeste. I have heard this before. Maybe he knew something that we (or at least I) don't.