Fifteen years ago, Sandy Pavao-Pinaretta thought figs were purple.

Then she tasted a large, yellow fig growing from an in-ground tree in Fall River — a variety she knew at the time as “Pingo de Mel,” or “drop of honey,” and discovered there was an entire world of figs she knew nothing about.

“I sold my soul to collect different varieties,” Pavao-Pinaretta joked.

Today, that curiosity has grown into FigMamma Farms, a collection numbering in the hundreds, seasonal workshops for fellow growers and an annual Fig Fest that has grown from a gathering of about 30 people beneath a carport to an event drawing fig enthusiasts from around New England.

And Pavao-Pinaretta is far from alone.

Across Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, a community of growers is cultivating and trading a fruit that comes in far more colors, varieties and flavors than many people realize.

From three trees to thousands

Pavao-Pinaretta’s relationship with figs actually began about 30 years ago, when she planted three trees after buying her home. But it was that Fall River fig years later that turned a casual interest into a collection.

She began searching locally for different varieties before discovering FigBid, an online marketplace where collectors buy and sell fig trees and cuttings from around the country.

For years, she was better at collecting than propagating. She estimates she eventually accumulated about 50 varieties, while her attempts at root cuttings produced only occasional successes.

Then Rhode Island resident Dan Ripley gave her about 300 cuttings he could not sell, including approximately 20 varieties that were new to her.

With 300 chances to experiment, Pavao-Pinaretta developed her own propagation technique.

All 300 rooted.

“That’s kind of where FigMamma really got her roots into the soil, if you will,” she said.

Suddenly, she needed to find homes for hundreds of baby fig trees. Classes, open houses and eventually Fig Fest grew out of that abundance.

The numbers have continued climbing. After propagating about 300 cuttings one year, this year, she propagated about 2,500.

Vegetable beds have steadily become fig beds. About 170 varieties are currently offered for sale.

Propagation, she said, has become the part she enjoys most.

Another grower catches the fig bug

Meredith Brower’s path to figs began with an empty greenhouse.

Brower, of Firefly Figs in Tiverton, received a grant through the Natural Resources Conservation Service for a 30-by-72-foot greenhouse but initially had no idea what she wanted to grow inside it.

After researching different crops, a friend suggested she look into figs. Brower loved figs, so she started researching. Then she happened across a fig-growing class at Roger Williams Park Botanical Center taught by Pavao-Pinaretta.

She signed up with a group of friends.

“It was like the universe was sort of pushing me over to figs,” Brower said.

She went home with a few cuttings and began developing a plan for her greenhouse. In spring 2024, she planted her fig trees in the ground. Within months, they were reaching toward the top of the greenhouse.

“They’re prolific growers,” Brower said.

She kept in touch with Pavao-Pinaretta, who became a mentor. Brower attended last year’s Fig Fest and went home with another 10 varieties.

Just as valuable, she said, was hearing experienced growers explain what worked for them.

The information gave her the confidence to go home and keep growing.

Three years into her interest in figs, Brower still considers herself a newcomer. Her experience, however, is an example of the community Pavao-Pinaretta has been working to build — growers exchanging trees, techniques and knowledge.

Not your grocery store fig

For someone whose experience with figs begins and ends at the grocery store, Pavao-Pinaretta has a simple description of the difference between those and a fig picked ripe from a tree.

“Night and day,” she said.

Fresh figs can be green, yellow, purple, striped or variegated. Some have berry-like flavors, while others are intensely sweet or honey-like.

“People think when the figs are still green, or still gold, that they’re not ripe, because people only see the purple fig,” Brower said.

Brower favors honey varieties. One of the first figs she harvested was Little Ruby, a pinkish-purple variety with more of a berry flavor.

Pavao-Pinaretta’s collection includes varieties with dramatically different characteristics, and she said there is likely a fig to suit just about any preferred flavor profile.

The fruit can also be used far beyond eating it directly from the tree. Figs can become jams, pies, tortes and cookies, while fig leaves can be used in cooking, tea and syrups.

For collectors, however, part of the fascination is finding unusual varieties and seeing how they perform in New England.

One of Pavao-Pinaretta’s favorites came about by accident. Her husband purchased cuttings advertised as Black Madeira, a prized dark-skinned fig originating from Madeira, Portugal. The resulting trees, however, weren’t Black Madeira.

One produced a large green fig with a pink interior unlike anything Pavao-Pinaretta had encountered in her collection. She named it Sophia, after her daughter.

Pavao-Pinaretta considers Sophia exceptional for its productivity, size and ability to produce two crops. She doesn’t ordinarily sell it. Instead, the variety is offered through special raffles and auctions.

At Fig Fest, that makes Sophia one of the prizes collectors have a rare chance to bring home.

From a carport to Fig Fest

The fourth annual Fig Fest will be held Saturday, Sept. 12, from 2 to 5 p.m., bringing together growers, collectors and people who may simply be curious about what a fig can taste like when it comes straight from the tree.

The first festival drew about 30 people to a carport in Pavao-Pinaretta’s yard. The next gathering attracted roughly 50.

As interest increased, parking became a problem. Last year’s festival moved to a larger location and drew about 150 people.

This year, Pavao-Pinaretta expects to bring between 500 and 600 fig plants. Depending on availability, growers will also have fresh figs, plants, jams and other fig products.

The event will feature speakers, vendors, raffles and auctions, along with baking and cooking contests and even a competition for the largest fig leaf. A propagation station will give visitors a look at the process that helped turn Pavao-Pinaretta’s hobby into FigMamma Farms.

Food vendors will lean into natural fig pairings, including cheeses and local honey.

Among this year’s featured speakers is Harvey Correia, known in the fig-growing world as Figaholics. Pavao-Pinaretta credits longtime growers such as Correia with helping make varieties that were once difficult and expensive to obtain more accessible to everyday growers.

For Pavao-Pinaretta, however, Fig Fest has never been solely about selling trees. She started it because she wanted to hear how other New England growers were successfully raising figs.

Her workshops grew from the same idea. What began as occasional classes now follows the fig tree through the seasons, from soil and fertilizing during the growing months to preparing trees for winter and more advanced techniques such as air layering and grafting.

It is a long way from the yellow fig Pavao-Pinaretta tasted in Fall River 15 years ago.

But perhaps the biggest discovery wasn’t simply that figs come in more than purple. It was finding out how many other people were just as fascinated by them.