Story from Jim Cooper aka Coop & Coop951:

"Dominick's Fig - A guy named Jim Cooper aka coop951 (a fig grower in Northern NJ Zone 7a) who has grown figs for approximately 20 years now, he's been giving away cuttings of this fig tree variety, and he is the original source of this variety being distributed. Dominick gave Jim a sucker the day that they met at that point Dominick had already taken care of that tree for 60 years, from that sucker came a tree that Jim used to root cuttings into plants and has given those new plants away for about 15 years now. This variety is becoming very popular very fast, over 75 cuttings of this variety have been given to fig collectors by Jim alone so far, and not just fig collectors own and distribute it, there is a rumor that it's being sold in Europe as well. I got this "Dominick's fig" fig tree at the Southeastern fig gig which took place on Saturday August 23rd 2014, Mike aka newnandawg was nice enough to give me a starter tree of it, that starter tree came from a sucker that Jim had grown for 20 years!

It produces a small to medium sized purple fig with red interior that is delicious to eat and has a seed crunch to it! It has a very strong berry taste which tastes like a Mount Etna type of fig, the figs in which it produces are shaped like that of a Mount Etna type of fig.

Dominick's father brought Dominick's fig tree to him from Sicily in 1933, so it might be some Sicilian variety unknown or known, yet Jim did not have the opportunity to verify what tree the original tree sucker originated from, or where it was located. Dominick had taken care of his tree from 1933 until he passed away.

This variety of fig tree can be grown as large as an elm tree, it grows fast like a weed, the leaf pattern is a very much like that of a Mount Etna type of fig, it has it's first fig crop fast (second season for me), it's cold hardy, fun to watch grow, is very healthy, and it sure appears to be free of all viruses. This fig variety also is slow at going dormant, most likely the last one to go dormant in anyone's fig collection, and it has been said that it waits until the last minute possible to go dormant yet they should go dormant in time no matter the situation.

Who is Dominick you may ask, well an Italian gardener who lived in Northvale NJ (Bergen County, Northern NJ) that Jim met when Jim asked him about his strikingly beautiful fig tree, it took Jim many attempts to find someone home, he passed by the home daily until one day he had seen an old man double digging his tomato patch and Jim he stopped his car, They had a conversation Jim said "Excuse me sir, that is the most incredible tree I have ever seen". Dominick said "you want to come in"?, Jim said "I'd love to". Through a respect, and an appreciation of a fig tree Dominick and Jim shared a unique and loving friendship for 15 years or so!

The love of figs that lead to Jim meeting Dominick started in Brooklyn about 40 years ago. Some of his Italian friends had grandfathers who grew figs in their back yard. and he then immediately decided that some day he'd have a house and grow figs too.

When Jim noticed that Dominick passed away he went under Dominick's tree, Jim promised Dominick that he would give as many people as he can a cutting of Dominick's tree to help keep the tree alive, and it may just be around forever, if so then Dominick's memory would live on forever as well.

Jim is a Key Grip which is a type of filming technician, he has given this variety of fig away to 100's of people over the years, over 25 of those people are in film production, everyone loves his story. He is also the distributor and basically the source for The Godfather fig variety."