Other ways of preserving figs?

Hi,

It's fig season again. They are best fresh, but we have already eaten as much as we can and provided our neighbors and friends with baskets full of fresh figs.

So, I'm looking for ways of preserving what we can't use. My wife doesn't like dried figs. We still have fig chutney from last year and there is no point in making more. I have tried to conserve figs in alcohol (vodka), but didn't like it at all. Perhaps I could use Port wine?

Are there any other ways of preserving figs?

Cheers,
Dieter

So i do not know the exact way to do this. However i have a friend who freezes figs and he said its like ice cream. Maybe it is blended and frozen? Maybe the are frozen whole and scooped. I really do not know the process.

Maybe this will help you

https://www.thriftyfun.com/tf/Food_Tips_and_Info/Freezing/Freezing-Figs.html

I am in the process of receiving my HarvestRight Freeze Dryer.

in researching online to educate myself before it arrives, someone talked about freeze drying figs, dates and other fruits. They mentioned leaving them whole OR chopping them up prior to freeze drying.

to be added to baked goods and other food dishes. or eaten as snacks. added to trail mix.

After they are freeze dried, they can be powdered in a spice grinder or food processor.

Jam? or some form of syrup is probably what I would make if I ever had any figs!

My favorite way to use them is fig preserves.  I love them on toast.

I also make a fig cobbler using my favorite cobbler recipe.

I am pretty sure that the last cobbler I made was by using figs that had been frozen.

We have a specialty here made with dried figs, it's called fig bread at it has cooked dried figs, almonds (or walnuts) and matalahuva (pimpinella anisum). I'd say the flavour is different than simple dried figs.

I have a Desert King fig tree, and the figs are HUGE, with green skin and red insides and a fair amount of bland white pith in between. I cut the figs in half, peel and remove most of the pith, and lay them out on a cookie sheet.  Then I roast them in the oven on convection bake.  They shrink quite a bit and get brown on the undersides plus bits of the tops.  I then load them into containers for freezing or just in the fridge.  

Roasted figs are great on a pizza with goat cheese!  Or, wrapped in thinly sliced ham, or some other way.  Anyway, roasting is a different flavor profile, I recommend it.

Julia Winter wrote:I have a Desert King fig tree, and the figs are HUGE, with green skin and red insides and a fair amount of bland white pith in between. I cut the figs in half, peel and remove most of the pith, and lay them out on a cookie sheet.  Then I roast them in the oven on convection bake.  They shrink quite a bit and get brown on the undersides plus bits of the tops.  I then load them into containers for freezing or just in the fridge.  

Roasted figs are great on a pizza with goat cheese!  Or, wrapped in thinly sliced ham, or some other way.  Anyway, roasting is a different flavor profile, I recommend it.

Hi Julia,

This sounds like a great idea. Just a couple of questions:

Is there a trick for separating the red inner part from the skin and the bland white pith? I tried scooping out with a spoon, but when the figs are rip, the inner red part usually comes apart. Or should I use the figs before they are completely ripe?

For how long and at what temperature do you bake them in the oven?

Do I have to oil the baking pan to prevent the figs from sticking to the pan?

Do you happen to know why some figs are red inside while others are brownish inside even among figs from the same tree? The red once taste better.

Cheers,
Dieter

Don't use the figs before they are ripe, if you can let them ripen, let them ripen.  Here in Portland, we rarely get really ripe figs, but this year with the multiple "heat dome" events, I got some seriously ripe figs.  Best figs ever.  I ate the really ripe ones fresh.  If the inside isn't looking shiny when you cut the fig in half, it's not worth a lot of effort, at least not for me when I've got apples and pears and quince to deal with.

I use a sharp paring knife to remove the green skin and most of the white pith.  I cut the fig in half first, then cut from the inside (near the stem end) towards the skin just above the red part.  If the fig is ripe, I can often make one cut through the pith towards the outside and then pull the skin off.  OK, not in one piece, but in 2-3 pieces.

I lay the figs on the pan white side down, red side up.  I don't use oil.  The figs lose juice, and you want to scrape that up because it's delicious.  If you roast too long the juice can burn, I've tried 250 degrees to decrease that, but I think I still increased the temp to 350 for a while at the end to get some browning.

I think a fig that's brown inside might be overripe? I'm not sure.

those are beautiful.
how about homemade fig newtons?

Julia - I wouldn't say that any of your figs are overripe. From my experience an overripe fig is a pile of mush, it doesn't hold shape. They look beautiful. I can't wait until my fig tree on this new property starts producing. I love figs.

My favorite way to eat dried figs is in a cheese dip. It's cambozola, rind removed and cubed, chopped dried figs and chopped walnuts. Combine in bowl, either microwave or heat in oven until melted.  Serve with sliced apples, pears, crackers and/or bread. So simple but amazing.