My introduction to figs was Fig Newtons and boy oh boy I could eat a package by myself. Love them. I was introduced to fresh figs the summer of 1972 when walking across a field in Israel with one of my cousins. We came upon a large tree and he said , “I don’t know the name in English but it is very good to eat.” It reminded me of something but I could not place it. After all, dried/fresh tastes differ slightly and it was not wrapped in a cookie. We got back to his house, pulled out the Hebrew-English dictionary and my gastronomic education had been enhanced.
Here in Oregon we have a lot of figs and I have been trying for several years to get some. This year I have connected with three different people who have fig trees and it appears that the first is ready to be gathered this weekend. I am so excited!!!
So I have two ideas of what I would like to do with them…..I tasted an amazing fig-orange preserves at the Fancy Food Show in January and hope to replicate that. I also would like to prepare a fig paste that people can use many ways, and with a recipe I will provide, bake their own version of fig newtons.
I wondered if any of you have made any fig preserves of any kind and had a recipe to recommend. I’m also interested in savory recipes, as I will dry a bunch and hope to develop a dehydrated recipe for the 2017 season.
In a few more weeks our figs here will be ready and I am anxiously waiting to bite into my first this year.
The green ones are ready now but the other ones will ripen later…I am also very excited to get access to figs!! Can you tell?
Oooooh, I love figs! 🙂
How do you like to eat them?
Well, naturally in the cookie form. But, I had some dried figs (I think they were dried) at a local store – and I loved them.