figs Archives - Zeens and Roger

picked figs

Last year I was moaning on here about how much I really didn’t like figs. I don’t want to say this out loud, but there’s a chance that I’m slowly becoming accustomed to their strangeness. I’m still not a big fan but I’ve found ways to make figs work for me and mostly I think that involves taking away a lot of the figginess. I’ve struggled to find different fig recipes over the last couple of years. I like to take away the texture and disguise some of the flavour but most recipes celebrate the unique qualities of this funny fruit and it was tricky finding a selection that suited my tastes.

When properly ripe, figs are quite soggy, they have what I can only describe as a pappy texture. They also taste mega sweet and leave behind that sugary after taste that real ribena has (or old chewing gum), I’m guessing that’s fructose! As much as I am not keen, I still can’t leave them on the tree so, as well as giving them away, I’ve found some recipes that work for me: a non lover of figs…

(I spend every other day wobbling on a giant step ladder, reaching dangerously high to grab at all the ripe fruit I can find. I have no idea why I go to such lengths, I guess I don’t like to see them go to waste).

Fig Recipes:

Nigel Slater’s Fig Chutney.

This one is by far my favourite fig recipe. It takes quite a bit of bubbling but I’ve been highly rewarded. Especially yesterday when I had some with cheese and crackers. It’s even better this year. The only change I made to this recipe was swap raisins for apple. I had cox growing in the garden too and thought to use those rather than buying more ingredients. I’m not a very tidy chutney potter/canner, so it seems.

Dried Figs.

A weird one this and they do have a medicinal quality. But I kept going back for more so that must mean something. Very easy to do and I was surprisingly impressed by such a simple thing.

Fig and Lime Sorbet.

I was dubious about this one but honestly there are so few ingredients that I think I was just being stupid and lazy. I haven’t made this for a couple of years so this year will see its return (today is probably a fig picking day actually and by chance I have limes in the fruit bowl – they were for mojitos but I’ll make the sacrifice). I love the citrus in it. I love lime!

Sticky Toffee Fig Rolls.

I’m cheating with this one, I’ve not made this recipe yet! But the kids have asked for fig rolls and these have got toffee in them so they can’t be that bad!

If anyone has any other fig recipes they’d like to suggest, do let me know. I’m trying to think of boozy things but I’ve got nothing at the moment.

I’ll be saying goodbye to figs next year. This tree is far too big for its boots and we’re going to chop it. It needs a good pruning. I think you’re supposed to do that in January. As figs grow from the previous year’s twigs that means no figs for at least a year. However, I think it’s safe to assume that I won’t really mind!

We spotted ripening figs on the tree yesterday. I ate one, just to say that I had. One is enough for me, thanks. They’re so weird.

The flavour is strange, as is the dual texture. I dislike the pap but the crunchy seeds are interesting. I’ll give most of them away but I like to make one annual figgy gesture by trying them in a recipe. I could do a chutney I suppose. One year I dried them but they were kind of medicinal.

These are Nasturtium seed pods. I’m making piccalilli today. I picked these yesterday, as well as other things to accompany them.

These are all from my garden and have joined a chopped up onion to attend a piccalilli party. Yesterday, I sliced them up and put them in a giant bowl with lots of salt.

In about an hour I’m going to wash off the salt and then muck about with the pickling ingredients. The recipe is a River Cottage one. I wouldn’t have thought of using the Nasturtium pods. I’ve heard that you can treat them like capers, but I haven’t looked into that.

With more courgettes than is necessary, I also remembered another recipe I wanted to try; Courgette Polpette. They were OK but I would change the recipe if I made them again. With all that courgette, they were just too wet. And they needed way more cheese. Everything benefits from a shed load of cheese.

The Parsley is from the garden too. I love it. I like to grow it in the veg bed where it can get nice, big roots. Growing it in pots is not the same. It also lasts all season and you can collect seeds the following year, to start all over again!

Saving the best till last, cocktails! I had a Mojito with my garden Mint. We’ve only got dark rum though, I hope that’s acceptable.

The only other thing I use the Mint for is sauce for roast lamb. I’m so hungry right now.

And an order was put in for a G&T, so I plucked a few Borage flowers off of the many many plants I have and popped those in with a slice of cucumber. Borage flowers have a kind of cucumbery flavour too.