Figs get a little soft and droop when they are ripe for fresh eating. Pick a day or two too soon and they are not as sweet and the texture is not as appetizing. Wait a day or two too long and they dry out and they are not worth eating.

I have never heard of anyone who lets them fall off the tree before eating them.

The video below shows how they are picked commercially. Its a good video for new growers to watch but she picks them sooner than they should be for fresh eating. The figs she is picking are for chefs which use them mostly for cooking. They ship better the way she does it but they are not really ripe.

A word of advice. Figs absorb water when you wash them as done in the video. If you let the water stand for a few hours before putting the figs in the water the chlorine will evaporate out of it before the water is absorbed by the figs.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Fabulous Fig

WOW! Great video. Thank you so much.
Gotta go and pick figs...

Great Video. It is lots of work and few crops. No wonder the Figs are very expensive. I love Figs and occasionally my grocery store has some. They sell it at 4-5 dollars per pound. I can eat a lot of it I love it. Can't wait for my figs to ripen. I am wondering why did she pick the green ones?

foolishpleasure some fig varieties like the Kadota she was harvesting are still green when ripe. Green figs have one advantage over dark figs. Most birds leave them alone because they don't know when they are ripe.