Figs

     Figs and Parma ham for starters tonight. Nigel Slater, in The Kitchen Diaries, describes them as "plump, purple and tender as a bruise....wantonly ripe" - and these are just that.

     Reay Tannahill's Food in Historyquotes Aristophanes: "Nothing is sweeter than figs", and says that in the third century BC, "Bindusara, king of the Maurya dominions in India, wrote to Greece asking for some grape syrup, some figs and a philosopher. Grape syrup and figs, he was told with cool courtesy, would be sent to him with pleasure, but it was 'against the law in Greece to trade in philosophers'".

    According to Jane Grigson's Fruit Book, "The fig, with the olive tree, the vine and wheat, provided the four basic foods of Mediterranean eating until modern times. The uninterrupted enjoyment of them was every man's desire and dream. With them he could live."

Comments

[Peter the flautist]

Looks great, and it seems you can get really good figs (visually anyway). If you have any that are slightly underripe then there is a "Green Figs in Syrup" recipe in Claudia Roden which sounds nice.

Gastro Cat

[Kim]

What a coincidence! My abiding memory of this summer is my husband up a ladder picking figs from our tree. He is absolutely consumed by this new passion! Every day without fail, we've been having figs roasted with honey and greek yogurt - delicious!
Kim

[a simple yarn]

Ah yes, seeing your pictures reminds me of our pre-children-family-holidays to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia where the fig trees were gigantic and loaded with fruit. Not sure why the other tourists didn't eat their fill, but we certainly didn't let the opportunity pass us by.

We loved them so much we bought an infant fig tree plant from there and nurtured it in the colder climes of Ohio. Even built a winter cage and surrounded it with leaves to prrotect our precious baby. Of course we moved to Ireland before we could get a good crop from it. And sadly the new owners didn't know the treasure they possessed. Sigh.

[Rebecca]

And guess what I had for lunch? Figs with parma, eaten in the September sunshine, perfect... Your starter is sure to delight.

[Era]

Mmmmmm, figs, I love them. My mom is getting a clipping from a neighbor's fig tree because she's tired of spending 50 cents a fig at the supermarket in New Jersey.

While I was looking at your fig pictures I was hoping to see one of the figs cut open, and lo and behold, you saved the best for last!

[Fay]

Who remembers the fig scene in the Ken Russell film _Women in Love_? The sensuous photos brought back the memory of this scene immediately, and I found the script!

"The proper way to eat a fig in society...is to split it in four...holding it by the stump ... and open it ... so that it is a glittering, rosy, moist ... honeyed, heavy-petaled, four-petaled flower. Then you throw away the skin ... after you have taken off the blossom with your lips. But the vulgar way..."

Well, never mind. This is a family show.

[Francesca]

Have you tried figs with chocolate? A US store called Trader Joe's has been carrying boxes of chocolate dipped fig pieces; they call them "figments". Their quality isn't the best, but I like the idea a lot. Think about it… plump figs dipped in dark chocolate. Yum!

[Peg]

Figs - we just never get fresh ones in the shops here. There is a little Portugese man living near here, and he sometimes has a sign at the end of his drive. Figs $3.50 a lb. Have always got there when they were gone!!
In Canada, we have a cookie called a 'Fig Newton". It is made with a filling of fig surrounded by a sort of soft sugar cookie and they are made in long flat rolls and then sliced. When I was eating pastries and cookies, they were my favourite 'store-bought' cookies!
Now I will have figs on my mind the entire day, Cornflower, but thank you for the reminder of one of the benefits of late summer!

[Melissa!]

My husband's cousin just sent us Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope cd! I play the 3rd song "...sweetest downfall..." all the time - your favorite?

And one of my favorite restaurants, "Girl & a Fig" serves delicious dishes w/ figs :) yum. Your dish w/ figs sounds incredible - send a pic, please :)

[Bluestalking Reader]

I could just reach in my computer and grab these, they look so gooood!

[carol]

There are just coming ripe on our tree. It is a wonderful treat this time of year to be able to go out and pick sun warmed fresh figs each afternoon.

[tara]

These look beautiful. I will confess, I've never eaten fresh figs - I guess I'm not sure what to do with them (and I never liked those Fig Newton cookies my Mother loved). Do you eat the entire thing?

[Tui M.]

Karen, I just saw fresh figs in our village supermarket today and nearly got them but wondered what I'd do with them. You've inspired me to go back tomorrow to get them and to just darn well fig-ure something out!