Fruit
Adriatic
A tier
Adriatic is a pale green to yellow fig with strikingly pink-to-strawberry red flesh—one of the most colourful interiors among common commercial types. Flavour is bright and sugary with a light berry lift, less molasses-dark than Black Mission. In California it has been grown for both fresh market and drying; dried Adriatic often appears as a light fig with a pinkish cast to the interior paste. Slice Adriatic crosswise for cheese boards so the red flesh shows; the visual contrast is half the pleasure. It also makes vivid fig jam and elegant tarts where dark purple skins would muddy the colour. Fully ripe fruit is soft and perishable; green hard specimens stay bland. Cool storage and gentle handling keep the thin pale skin from browning at bruises.
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History
Adriatic-type pale figs with red flesh were grown along Mediterranean coasts.
California orchards planted Adriatic for fresh sales and light dried fruit.
Packers marketed Adriatic dried figs as a pink-fleshed light alternative to Calimyrna and Mission.
Chefs favoured cross-sectioned Adriatic for plated desserts and boards.