They're really best fresh off the bush/tree! If there is a lot of the white next to the skin, I prefer to just eat the yummy pink middle. Some figs have lots of white, others it is very thin...We used to have one little fig bush (only about 2-1/2 ft tall) that had the sweetest, juiciest little figs. I loved them. Our other two fig bushes were probably 8-10 feet tall with the great big figs that my mom made into preserves. But the little ones, we just ate (and ate, and ate).