Finicky figs are delicious no matter what you call them
Fresh figs are like a nice late summer perfume. Eating one will make me want to sit back and savor the end of a season. They are individual servings of sugar sweetness that arrives and departs much too soon for anyone to tire of having them available.
Fig trees are members of the mulberry family. The genus encompasses over 600 species with the fig the only one that that is commercially viable for fruit.
Relatives are the Indian rubber plant, the banyan tree and creeping fig, which is used as an ivy to cover walls.
Mature trees can reach up to 30 feet in height but are kept to around 10 feet by yearly pruning to make them easier to harvest. They can be grown in large pots or trained in espalier form. The only requirement is regular water and a bit of fertilizer if pot grown.
The best way to describe the fruit is that it is a flower head that is turned inside out. Botanically, that is a syconium. Some call it a hollow false fruit. I call it delicious.
Although most are familiar with the common Brown Turkey variety, figs can Renee, That white powder is the natural sugar from the fig that crystallizes on the skin. Since sugar dissolves in water, you can wash it off or if you are cooking them, heat will melt the sugar. It is not harmful. be round, oval or pear-shaped. They can vary in color from nearly black to nearly white. All have a nice soft flesh with loads of tiny edible seeds that give the fruit something close to a crunch.
The main problem with figs is their high perishability. They need to be used within a few days of purchase and must be stored in the refrigerator. They bruise easily, so in single layers is best. I place them on a paper towel-lined tray and regularly check them to use the softest ones first. A pound will be about 8 large fruits or twice that many smaller ones.
Tammy Algood is the author of five cookbooks and can be seen on “Volunteer Gardener” on PBS stations in Tennessee. Follow her at hauteflavor.com