Keeping Up With The Figs Plus The Late Summer Garden

Our fig tree started last week to present fruit ripe enough for picking. Presently it is yielding about twenty large figs daily. Learning from our massive blackberry harvest earlier in the season, I knew I wanted to process our figgy bounty in a similar way. Without generating any more heat than what the summer was already providing along with retaining as much vitamin content as possible, the uncooked fruit in the case of the blackberries were put through a Foley mill followed by an addition of confectioner's sugar per sweetness preference; in the case of the figs, they, along with maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg added to taste, were pureed with a stick blender. Once portioned and popped into the freezer, these home-grown fruits will be ready for future use in all kinds of goodies. I do reserve daily some fresh fig puree to mix into yogurt or if I am experiencing a super home-grown-fruit-appreciation day, I make a tall parfait to take out into the garden. It showcases our blackberries, blueberries, and figs all in one fell swoop. First goes in a layer of crumbled blueberry muffin, followed with the spiced fig puree, blackberry coulis, and yogurt. Topped with more muffin crumbs and a deluge of fig puree and blackberry coulis, it is out of this world with the goodness of fruit.

I love digging a spoon in and seeing swirls of fig puree and blackberry coulis spontaneously appear in a plethora of patterns.

  

A blueberry muffin crumb gracing the gustatory situation just makes everything even better.

Not only are fig trees vigorous, they are also easy to grow and maintain. Pruning is not that difficult as the wood isn't too hard. Since arriving here ten years ago, I haven't yet fertilised it. I do water it in between rains during summer. How to know when they are ripe? First thing, you need to know the colour for your fig variety when it's mature. Ours is mostly purplish brown with swatches of green. Also the fig should not be right angles to its twig/branch, but instead be drooping a bit. Additionally when pressing ever so gently, it will feel like a small balloon filled tightly with air. Lastly, though not always, there will be a drop of juice oozing from the bottom centre. Those are best eating right out of hand immediately. Picking involves slightly twisting the stout stem that afixes each fig to its branch until there's a plump packet of delight sitting in your palm. Since their skin is fragile, bruising easily which is why storebought figs are expensive, place each fig in a single layer. Recycled egg cartons are great as fig harvest baskets.

Two thirds of our tree is in our garden and the other third is in .  .  .

. . . in the yard of a refrigeration depot which is directly behind our urban garden. When their entrance is open I can harvest figs from that side. This coming late winter, I will remember to prune that part of the tree which presently is touching the ground!

Late summer is such a lovely time. It's so enjoyable to sit under the pergola and gaze upon . . .

. . . all the abundance.

Out in the front garden, the border directly in front of the balcony stairs leading to the front entrance door is a tropical riot of yucca and canna with a cooling splash of temperate dahlias, lobelia, and sedum.

À la prochaine!

Yogurt/Crème Fraîche With Fresh Figs & Cinnamon Maple Fig Butter

Autumn officially will arrive this coming Monday. Here in southwest France, the days may be still hot, but the evenings have a bit of a chill in the air. So serving food at a cool temperature but with some warming, sweet spices is a nice compromise. Our fig tree recently gave us a flush of ripe fruit, the third this season, and probably the final one.  As with the abundance of peaches earlier, making fruit butter is an effective way to process such a delicious deluge.

Ingredients
makes around a litre (a quart) of Cinnamon Maple Fig Butter

• Figs, whole, fresh, rinsed, 4 litres (4 quarts)
• Sugar, white, 8 T
• Maple Syrup, 2 T
• Cinnamon, 2 large pinches
• Ginger, 1 large pinch

For each serving:

• Yogurt, whole, plain, 8 T
• Crème fraîche, 2 T
• Fig, fresh, quartered for garnishing
• Icing sugar
• Maple syrup, a drizzle

Place the figs in a suitably sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, preferably an enamelled cast-iron pot. It's fine if the pot is full. Cover and cook over medium heat for around ten minutes till mostly soft. Smash and crush the fruit with a large wooden spoon. Cook another ten minutes.

Working in batches and using a Foley mill, sieve the figs directly over a pot which fits the mill snugly. When finished sieving, ensure that the bottom of the sieve is scraped with a clean spoon. Put a handheld blender directly in the pot and blend till smooth.

Clean the pot in which the figs were softened and pour the sieved, blended figs into it. Add sugar, maple syrup, and spices. Cook, partially covered as to avoid splattering, over low heat, stirring every fifteen minutes or so, for around two hours or until the taste and consistency is to your preference. At first, it will have the colour of caramel which will deepen into a shade of chestnut. As it reduces, the flavour will intensify and start to resemble the rich one of dried figs, with notes of coffee and chocolate. Let cool a bit. Spoon into jars and store in the fridge where it will keep for a couple of weeks.

Fruit butters can be used in baked goods like muffins and simple cakes where they will add moisture and flavour. They are great spread on toast/crepes/crumpets or directly eaten with a spoon right from the jar! In that case, I highly recommend a chaser of a teaspoon of natural peanut butter following each teaspoon of fig butter. Any surplus can be frozen.

Mix yogurt and crème fraîche till smooth and creamy. Spoon into a serving dish. Put a heaping teaspoon of fig butter in the centre and four more spaced around the perimeter. Place the fig quarters in between the mounds of fig butter. Sprinkle with icing sugar and drizzle with maple syrup. Lovely, lovely, lovely! Not too sweet and not too luscious, just perfect, it make a wonderful breakfast, snack, or dessert. And I love the delicate crunch of the seeds.

À la prochaine!

Late Summer Garden 2019

There's a paradoxical edge in the air. The pervasive mellowness of late-summer laziness when much already has been harvested, specifically rhubarb, asparagus, peas, potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, is brushing against the beginning bustle of sowing for autumnal crops such as beets, carrots, kale, and tansy along with picking plus preserving peaches, plums, the second flush of raspberries, and figs. Watering and mowing chores are being replaced by weeding and clipping hedges such as ivy, laurel, and the wild area's brambles. Ivy covering walls/fences and pergola pillars gets about four trimmings per year chez nous. This one will be the last until late winter/early spring. When the cutting back is vigorous, dead leaves tucked deep into the vines will show. Through time they will flutter down on their own accord or be covered with new growth. This final trim was done a little too late as clusters of berries which sustain starlings through winter already had started developing so though some unfortunately got the axe, I made sure the ones up high were spared as on the ivy-covered wall in the below photo's bottom left-hand corner.

But the bustle is not exactly a bustle. Even it is pervaded with a sense if not exactly of laziness, then one of satiety with the promise of more to come. This halo of contentment hovering over our little city plot is reminiscent of the much larger one that floated over a farming community we visited about ten years ago south of Grenoble. In exchange of our being custodians for a century-old country property while their owners went abroad we got to spend two weeks during late August in an active agricultural setting.  The large house more in shambles than not is referred to on local maps as Le Chateau hence at one point in our stay a pair of hikers stared with confused disappointment over the chain-barred dirt road entrance at the rather dilapidated structure in process of being renovated. We made sure the horses got their daily water and the orchard's apples got picked and stored. As we hiked around fields dotted with bales of hay and walked through narrow village streets where workers were making sure roofs were in good repair for the coming winter, this dual sense of activity laced with satisfied fulfilment was everywhere. 

At the moment in our urban garden, there's a bumper crop of peaches! As I pick up the fragrant ones volunteering easy harvesting by their dropping to the ground, I hear neighbours' chickens clucking, clucking, clucking along, in their own feathery universe, bringing memories of our stay in that farming village where the sounds of domesticated animals were everywhere, from horses to cows, and of course chickens.

The fig harvest looks to be a record breaker also.

Beets still have a ways to go in developing their roots, but a few leaves here and there have been plucked to go into minestrone.

It's a common saying among gardeners that the best crop yield often is found on the compost heap. Ours at present is covered with squash and tomato plants.

The front garden's lavender, abelia, purple plum tree, and potted heather are bathed in flitting shadows cast by the much taller and still fully leaved cherry plum and box elder trees. Within a couple of months the shadowy dance will become more subdued once those trees start to shed their leaves.

Companions to the heather are a solar lamp and floppy, chartreuse echeveria. The succulent will put out welcomed, cheery, bright-yellow blooms in late winter.

Lavender cradles pink, low-growing dahlias.

It will get a clipping after flowering.

Deadheading regularly will keep dahlias blooming right into autumn like these lovely, single, red ones set in a dramatic background of yucca with its sword-shaped leaves.

À la prochaine!

Fruit, Veg, Flowers & Feline

Fresh April green here and there has morphed into verdant lushness all over. The first fig crop is forming while the second and more substantial one will happen in autumn.

Little fuzzy olive-green eggs are dotting the peach tree.

The strawberry harvest at present is enough for making a strawberry banana smoothie every other day. Peak production will be reached in several weeks.

Rhubarb is being picked now, the peas will be in a few weeks, and the potatoes at end of July.

The soft green of fennel (the herb, not the bulb) cosies up to flowering sage.

Comfrey is putting out young leaves and buds. It's an amazing plant for other plants as it is used as a fertiliser tea and a compost accelerator.

The weigela's flower-laden branches are draping the front garden in crimson.

The peony is continuing to set just a few blooms as I suspect the last couple of winters were too mild to give it the cold required for abundant flowering.

Hardy miniature gladioli loves to self sow where I dare not to as in smack up to this ivy-covered pergola pillar.

The Ferdinand Pichard Bourbon rose is paying no attention to Dirac the Cat napping in the southwest sous sol window as all of its blooms are leaning directly towards the south to get as much sun exposure as possible.

À la prochaine!

More Seasonal Fresh Fig Recipes!

We, along with the starlings, continue to eat ripe figs supplied generously by our tree. The birds descend onto the figuier and we to the table; they peck noisily and we guzzle the luscious, juicy fruit just as noisily. Can we say lip-smacking good? Grain bowls are excellent for using up any left-over grains. Top with what you have in the fridge and larder to get a wholesome, hearty supper.

Bulgur is delicious and cooks up quickly. You probably have encountered it in the form of tabbouleh. Put one volume of it in 2 volumes of boiling, salted water, lower heat, and simmer uncovered for ten minutes. Take off heat, cover, and let steep for about five minutes until it is fluffy and any excess moisture has been absorbed. I tend to make more than is needed so either the left-overs are used for the next couple of days or it's frozen for future meals.

Bulgur boasts of a nutty flavour with a satisfying texture

Figs are halved, their centre crevices filled with a bit of sweet butter, and placed close under a preheated broiler for several minutes until their edges are browned.

Using a veggie peeler or a paring knife, scrape off several slivers of Parmesan.

Slice deli ham into strips. Arrange figs, ham, and Parmesan slivers on top. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

Hot open-faced sandwiches are fun to do and are nicely warming on an autumn day. Again use what you have on hand. For us, it was moist dark rye speckled with flax seeds, figs, apples, Cantal, and walnuts. Preheat oven to 410 degrees F/210 degrees C.

Place bread slices in an oven dish. Top with thinly sliced, cored apples, Cantal, halved figs with a bit of butter inserted in their crevices, and chopped walnuts.

Heat in the oven for around five minutes until cheese is melted and the figs are soft and glistening.

Don't hesitate to cut the figs into smaller pieces.

This way, your fork can pierce more easily into the whole stack of bread, cheese, figs, and nuts in one, bite-sized go.

À la prochaine!

RELATED POSTS

French cheeses: Cantal Apple Clafoutis
Do Give a Fig! 

Do Give A Fig, It's The Season!

Our fig tree will continue to regale us with its fruits for this month of September. Not too far south of us, in Provence, the harvest is much beloved and is celebrated via several festivals. A conte forlorique (fairy tale) from the Aubrac region that is as beloved, is Le Panier de Figues. En bref, the king, who is a great lover of fresh figs, promises his daughter to a local lad who is able to present him with a basket of the best figs.

Three brothers take up the challenge. The first two are rude to an old woman on their way to the king. When they arrive, the king eagerly uncovers the basket only to see, and I am assuming, smell, a bunch of turds. The third son who was kind and polite to the old woman, not only does not have his figs transformed into something revoltingly inedible, he also is given a whistle.

The fig itself is an enlarged, hollow stem containing flowers which when pollinated by wasps (yes, wasps! who squirm their way inside), the blooms become individual druplets that set seed

Being a king, and being able to do whatever he pleases, Mr. Royalty imposes an additional condition, that once his rabbits who are known to be extremely rambunctious are released, they must be all recovered. Yes, the whistle. Its works even on willy nilly rabbits. And even if Mr. and Mrs. Royalty don clever disguises as earnest rabbit buyers willing to subject themselves to painful laceration and discomfiture from crawling under a very thorny rosebush. The royal one however does not quit when the quitting is good and insists the lad reveal three secrets. The lad then begins to describe injuries which are incurred when scrabbling under a thorny rosebush. To keep the boy silent, the king suddenly and finally keeps his promise. The moral is if you want to get the girl, be nice to old women.

Fresh figs lend themselves to not only fancy dishes, but also to easy and simple. Tuck in a noix (the size of a hazelnut) of sweet butter into the centre crevices of halved figs. 

Place fairly close under a preheated broiler for about three minutes or until the edges are browned and the surface is a bit bubbly.

A large serving spoon best be used to trap all the delicious ooze.

Broiled figs can be served over ice cream for a sweet delice or accompany savoury fish, lamb, chicken, and pork main dishes.

As the potager is still giving us some raspberries and strawberries, they got mixed with chopped figs. The melange makes a luscious topping for yogurt.

For an oh-so-tasty first course, add Parmesan shavings to a plate of quartered figs. Sprinkle balsamic or fruit vinegar (in my case, apple cider vinegar). Finish with a grinding of black pepper.

The leaves are delightful in being large, flexible, shiny, dark green, and conveniently lobed. Just ask Adam and Eve. (Does the fig's reputation as an aphrodisiac get somewhat mollified because of its role in keeping the supposedly first humans modestly covered?) And by October, when all will be on the ground, they will be raked along with the ones from the oak and fruit trees into a compost pile. The mound will be covered with tree netting secured with tiles and stones so the wind won't undo all that raking. Leaf mould possesses enormous capacity for retaining moisture so as a supplement to be incorporated to easily baked soil like our garden soil, it is unsurpassed.

It's the smallest I could find which is the size of my spread-out hand

À la prochaine!

RELATED LINKS

Le panier de figues (In french)
15 deliciously quick fig recipes (including the three in my post)
Fig festival Mas d'Azil
Fig Festival Solliès-Pont