Figs
At last my fig tree is starting to produce gorgeous, ripe figs — not many yet, but a few at a time.
I head out to the tree every morning, scanning it for ripe ones. The one on the right was my first fig of the season — always an event.
You know when a fig is ripe if it’s soft to the touch, and sometimes it will start to split.
I learned to appreciate figs when I was a student in a share house. It had a big, prolific fig tree in the back yard, and I’d never lived with a fig tree before. My first year there was a revelation, and I developed a passion for figs that has never waned.
Bought figs are never as nice as figs straight off the tree, sun-warmed, soft and with a bead of juice showing. Deeelicious.
This fig tree is a kind I’ve never had before. I’d mostly eaten brown figs, but this has green skin and red insides that are almost jammy to eat.
Absolutely the nicest figs I’ve ever eaten.
But you have to watch out for the birds and the possums. The first sign that there were ripe figs on my tree was the discovery of half-eaten figs lying on the ground. The little devils don’t ever eat the whole fig — they’d rather sample a few bites and waste the rest. But those figs were from the top of the tree, where I can’t reach, so I suppose it’s fair enough that we share them.
There are still plenty of small hard green figs on the tree, so I guess they will be ripening for quite a while yet.
When a friend of mine had a big prolific fig tree I used to go over there with a couple of supermarket bags and pick as many as I could. She didn’t like figs at all, so I was welcome to take (and eat) as many as I wanted. Apart from eating them fresh, I used to make jam — fig, lemon and ginger jam. It was a little like marmalade and was delicious.
I made up the combination, so I can’t give you a recipe I’m afraid — I just used a fig jam recipe and added chopped lemon flesh with grated peel, and a knob of grated ginger.
But she sold that house, and the new owners bulldozed the garden to build flats (vandals!) so I lost access to that tree.
If I get enough figs this year (which looks likely at this stage) I might make it again. If I do, I’ll share the recipe—assuming it turns out well.
Last year my neighbor, who has some fig branches growing over her fence, made a fig cake, and gave me some, and it was delicious. I think it might have been from this recipe.
Do you like figs? Any suggestions of what I should do with them if I do have a bumper crop this year?
My neighbour on one side has a tangelo tree and you know when they are ripe the rosellas move in and can stay a couple of hours feeding/drinking the juice from the ones on the very top – out of reach of the owner. On the other side is a loquat tree and when they are ripening the woodpigeons – Kereru – move in and although too heavy for some branches manage a very interesting balancing act to get to the end where the fruit are. They are followed by the mynas. The blackbirds love the flower buds on my… Read more »
I don’t mind it when the birds eat the figs at the top of the tree where I can’t reach, but it does bug me that they take a bite and then drop the rest! I feel like Mum, muttering “Don’t waste food!” Only Mum didn’t mutter. ;)
Oh my! Are there any left for you?
Robin, I’ve been picking between two and five figs a day, which is just enough and not too much to eat.
I love figs, but they are marginal in this climate. I keep bugging my husband to pull out one or more of the holly on the south side of the house and trying a fig there, but between the deer and squirrels, it might end up being just another animal feeding station. They get all our pears and a good fraction of our tomatoes.
Hi Anne, I have 2 fig trees (front and back yards) same variety as the one shown in the post (brown and lovely red inside). I have a similar problem with wildlife. But I found that bringing in the unripe figs, and letting them ripen indoors in a bowl on the counter works well. I like your idea of adding lemon and ginger to the jam. I am going to try that.
Thanks, Kantu. When I’ve done that the figs don’t ripen properly — they get softer but not tastier. So I’ll continue to head out each morning and pick the ripe figs before the birds and possums get them. :) In any case, they mostly seem to get the ones at the top of the tree where I can’t reach them, so I think that’s a fair blance.