Figs are one of the delights of my late summer garden. Like blueberries, figs are easy to grow in a home landscape, at least in my zone 7b garden.
Unlike apples and peaches, figs don’t typically require spraying. And with a chill hour requirement of only about 100 hours, I can be pretty sure in even the mildest winters, I will get fruit.
If I had to quibble about figs, it’s that the fruit matures in the hottest, muggiest, buggiest days of the year. August is too hot for man or beast, but apparently that doesn’t matter to figs.
When the figs are ready to harvest, I have just a few recipes for them. They’re lovely on a late summer cheese board, nestled among the gouda and brie. And I make Lazy Fig Pie.
There’s always a handful that remain that I make into a dessert sauce. Spoon it over ice cream or yogurt, or perhaps thin slices of toasted pound cake.
You can use this technique for most any type of soft fruit that is too far gone for eating out of hand, but not quite ready for the compost bin. Like cherries or plums or peaches, even strawberries. This is a no-recipe recipe. That means it’s a technique that you can adapt at home to your cooking style.
Quick Fig Dessert Sauce No-Recipe Recipe
Wash and dry figs and slice in half. Melt a tablespoon or so butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add figs cut side down and let them get brown and caramel-ly before flipping them over. Stir in a couple spoonfuls of sugar and maybe the slightest pinch of salt. A touch of vanilla extract would be nice. Keep cooking and stirring the figs until the sugar melts and the figs collapse.
Serve the figs over plain or vanilla yogurt with a shower of toasted sliced almonds.
More Stories About Figs
Author Shelley Cramm writes about growing figs in her Texas backyard garden and the soulful dimension of growing this ancient fruit. Check out her guest post on figs on A Cook and Her Books.
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