OT: recipes for figs....

I make fig preserves and give the jars as Christmas gifts. Also, This afternoon I am going to pick some, wash them off and take some to friends who love to eat them fresh, and so do I. Barbara in SC

Last year I made a ton of jam. I'm the only jam eater in this house and my friends were happy to take other fruit flavors off my hands (but not fig!), so I still have quite a bit left.

I also make fig bar cookies - those do disappear fast. Here's a link to the recipe:

Do you have a dehydrator or a friend with one to loan out? That way you could use the dried figs in granola or your morning oatmeal or cook them up for fig cookies later in the year.

marcella

I wish we could come and eat some for you! The GMNT loves fresh figs.

Drying them is good, and preserving them whole for later...

They make nice sweet base for chutneys too.

I froze the excess damsons last year. Gues what we have almost a frezzer drawer full of? Yup, them wee purple thangs!

How very French! Lucky you, but a surfeit of anything is difficult. I've just had a bumper crop of lemons. I made 3 bottles of lemonchello! Plus, jars and jars of preserved lemons, frozen lemon juice cubes, lemon curd, ...... We have two avocado trees and a mango so we often face the same dilemma. The mango fruit slices well and packed in ziplock bags for the freezer. anyhow, send some down here Janner! Figs are fearfully expensive in the shops. Cheers Bronnie Down Under

Does lemon zest freeze well? I use lots of it to compensate for all the things I don't dare use for seasoning. How lovely it would be to have lots ready to go. Polly

How very French! Lucky you, but a surfeit of anything is difficult. I've just had a bumper crop of lemons. I made 3 bottles of lemonchello! Plus, jars and jars of preserved lemons, frozen lemon juice cubes, lemon curd, ...... We have two avocado trees and a mango so we often face the same dilemma. The mango fruit slices well and packed in ziplock bags for the freezer. anyhow, send some down here Janner! Figs are fearfully expensive in the shops. Cheers Bronnie Down Under

Lemon zest freezes very nicely! I always zest every lemon that I buy, and for that I use the microplane over plastic wrap or a wide, flat bowl. To freeze it, I put it into an icecube tray, one teaspoon of zest per hole, and after it is all frozen I put each little cube of zest into a small plastic sandwich bag, and put the sandwich bags into a larger zipper-style plastic bag. I also freeze lemon juice from any leftover lemons, with the ice cube tray, one tablespoon of juice per hole, and then the plastic bags. Lemons tend to be a bit expensive here, and waste offends me, but the frozen zest and juice take up very little room in the freezer and are so easy to do that I buy extra lemons when they are on a really good sale.

Definitely Polly. I experimented with lemon zest in the freezer as well. Pop it into a small plastic airtight container or ziplock bag and when ready to use, leave it out for a few minutes and knock off as much as you require with a teaspoon. Worked a treat. Another tip: I had a bag of limes, so I sliced them and froze them and now I just drop one into a gin and tonic with the icecubes. Bronnie

might find something here that appeals to you. one for chocolate mint figs. hmmm. j.

"Janner" wrote ... OK, it has crept up on me again.....the figs are ripening rapidly. I love figs, but ideas what to do with them. I have at least 5 big trees, laden with fruit. Last year I put them in the freezer & they're still there! So ideas please....I can't bare to watch them rot on the trees, such a waste....

Janner France

If I could post them, I would!!! When we lived in the UK they were very pricey as well. I think it is the effort involved in picking and shipping and when properly ripe they are very delicate.

We've a lemon tree in the garden & last year we had 40 lemons ripening & then a very early frost & they were ruined! The tree is finally recovering after last winter, so this year it will be wrapped up well.

As for avocado & mango, how exotic...

Janner France

Thanks,

Janner France

Contact your local (and not quite so local) markets and restaurants. Might be that somebody would pay sweetly to take a good few of those delicious figs off your hands. I mean, if you already plan on picking them, why not drive a few to the local restaurant and have some nice man dressed in white pay a few dollars for the trip?

I wish I lived close to you and then you wouldn't have a problem. ;) The biggest thing I miss from Arizona is figs. Everybody had backyard Mission fig trees. I grew up eating figs in Texas and just crave the things in late summer.

Sunny

Missed the OP, but broiled with a few chocolate chips and a little sugar. Figs broiled with sweet cheese.

Go hit google for fig recipes.

And I'm with Sunny, I love fresh figs

Cheryl