Dried Figs

Turkish Lerida & Natural by diameter grade

Dried figs are graded on diameter, and the diameter grade is nearly the whole price conversation. Turkish Aydın figs — the origin that dominates world trade — come in a size ladder running from Number 1 (smallest, roughly 22–24 mm) up through Number 2, 3, 4 and 5 to Number 6 and Protoben/Lerida grades at 32 mm and above, with piece count per kilo as the working expression of it: around 100 pieces/kg for the boldest grades out to 200+ for small. On top of diameter sits the classification: Lerida is the pressed, flattened, cleaned and shaped grade destined for retail and gifting, where colour uniformity and skin condition are inspected; Natural is left in its harvested shape and is the volume grade; Garland (strung on a cord) serves specific retail and festive presentations; and industrial or 'pulled' figs — undersize, misshapen, off-colour — are the honest and much cheaper choice for paste, bars and filling. Moisture normally runs 22–26%, higher than most of this family, which is why fig lots are sulphured (typically ≤ 1,000 ppm SO₂, or lower where a retail programme caps it) or supplied SO₂-free with the shorter shelf-life and darker colour that implies.

Buy by whether the fig is seen. Lerida Number 4 and above in a presentation box or a retail tray is a gifting and premium-retail product where you are paying for shape, a pale golden-amber skin and uniform size. Natural grade covers snack packs, trail mixes and general retail. Industrial and pulled grades are the right buy for fig paste, fig rolls and biscuit filling, energy bars, chutney and cereal inclusions — where the fruit is milled and the diameter grade you paid for is destroyed in the first process step. Aflatoxin is the material risk on figs specifically: they are among the highest-risk dried fruits, EU limits sit at 6 ppb B1 and 10 ppb total, and the trade uses UV (BGYF) screening at grading to pull suspect fruit before it ever reaches a lab. We source from lots that have been UV-sorted rather than relying on a certificate after the fact. Every lot ships against SGS or Intertek certification of diameter grade and count, moisture, SO₂ ppm, aflatoxin to destination, foreign matter, insect damage, mould and yeast, with fumigation and phytosanitary documentation, in 5 kg, 6 kg and 10 kg lined cartons and trays, dry or reefer container, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms.