The Evaristo Fig

This heirloom tree traces back to Evaristo DaSilva, a Portuguese immigrant from New York who married the Filomena and settled in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. Evaristo was born in 1907 and, as family recollection has it, brought a branch to Bridgeport from a relative in the Newark, NJ area, growing this tree in his garden by the 1930s. The tree was shared with family by "Great Uncle E," and this continued into the the next generations of the family. Evaristo’s godson has been propagating the tree for 40 years now, giving cuttings to family and friends. He still calls it his "Evaristo Fig."

The figs are green ripening to green-yellow, with strawberry-pink flesh, and a flavor described as "sweet honey berry." The tree produces two crops: a breba crop of notably large figs in July, followed by a smaller main crop in August.