Instructions: Every summer, when the two trees in my back yard start producing fruit, I start touting the joys of fresh figs. I plead guilty.

I like to think that each time I trumpet the pleasures of this fresh fruit, I am not simply rolling out the same old story. Instead, I like to think that I am spontaneously responding to the bounty of Mother Nature, specifically to the wave of fresh figs coming from the two trees in our back yard.

If you buy that story, I have some figs I would like to unload on you, a couple of trees-full, in fact. Once again, the figs are falling. Once again, they are splattering the roofs of our cars, which are parked underneath the trees ever-spreading branches. Once again, they cover the ground, where I step on them and track them into the house. Once again, I have picked buckets of figs and fed them to family members, neighbors, passers-by.

There are four major varieties of fresh figs commonly sold in markets, and you may like to do a taste test to find out which you like best:

Calimyrna figs are large, with greenish-yellow skin, pale flesh and a sweet, nutty flavor.

Mission figs are purple to black in color with pink flesh, and very fine seeds.

Kadota figs are small, thick-skinned, with a creamy amber color when ripe.

They have hardly any seeds and they are a favorite for canning and preserving.

Brown Turkey variety, pear-shaped, has brown or black skin, rosy flesh, is recommended for eating as a fresh snack or using in cooked dishes, but not for drying.

Figs are quite perishable and should be used soon after theyre bought, or stored in the refrigerator for only two or three days. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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