September's Saving Grace #2
FIGS!!!
i love everything about figs. i even love the word "fig." i love their textures: smooth soft edible skins and their mouth-wateringly sweet pulpy insides with tiny crunchy seeds. i love their colors and varieties, their voluptuous curves and the big supple leaves of their trees. i love them soft and warm in the sun and i love them with cheese and in jams.
quite the sensual fruit!
figs are expensive at our local co-op. i buy them anyway as a treat sometimes for the sheer joy of them.
then i found out that my mom has a fig tree at the top of her driveway, and there are figs falling to the ground and figs galore ripening in the sun!
mom called them honey figs, but i think they are really desert king figs because of their bright red interiors.
i just read that figs are unique because they have an "eye" or ostiole that is not connected to the tree and helps them communicate with their environment. Amazingly, the female fig wasp pollinates the fig by squeezing through this cavity!
my dad and i brought a ladder and met up at mom's house the other day to pick figs.
i had a sleepy baby in the sling so i let my folks do the picking, and i did the enjoying :)
Some of the figs were slightly underripe (which is fine because they ripen quickly on my kitchen counter in this heat!) and release a few drops of a milky sap when they are plucked. It is called fig milk and it immediately reminded me of my breastmilk when it starts to leak. It has healing properties too. Intuitively that makes me think that figs are a good food for breastfeeding mamas, but that's just my heart and tastebuds talking!
Lucy found fig picking rather relaxing.
Marm and I are going to make fig jam tomorrow! Stay tuned on that, and meanwhile, I'll be back soon with another of this hot dry month's saving graces.
And back to the subject of figs, people seem to either love them or hate them. How about you? Like, love, or hate em? Do they grow where you live? Make fun recipes with 'em? Know any fancy stories or folklore about them? Pray tell!
Comments
Someone at work brought in a big bag of them from her yard - then my dad brought me a jar of homemade fig jam and then at my neighbor, she offered me a box of fig newtons (not a fan) ---so I looked up the spiritual significance of the fig. Fertility and prosperity. Well I'll take prosperity - but fertility is well behind me now, my kids are almost grown.
That picture is beautiful, fig beautiful. And so is sweet little baby ;)
i love these pictures heather. your sweet little babe sleeping the warm sun is too cute!
I like figs fine, but my sister LOVES them. She thinks they're the best ever basically.
I did make a couple of batches of fig jam last fall, though I think I'm going to try to tweak the recipe this season as it got a little too solidified and became more of a hard to spread spread.
I also found a super yummy fig newton recipe that I made a couple of times and am looking forward to digging up once our figs are ripe, getting close!
They really are such a strange and beautiful fruit.
I'm not too into figs, but my husband loves them dried and stuffed with a bit of blue cheese paired with a black ipa. I am in love with your baby's bonnet!!! I have an almost 15 month old daughter who would look super cute in one of those. May I ask: where you got it from?
Love and Light!
I'm not too into figs, but my husband loves them dried and stuffed with a bit of blue cheese paired with a black ipa. I am in love with your baby's bonnet!!! I have an almost 15 month old daughter who would look super cute in one of those. May I ask: where you got it from?
Love and Light!