My figs are ready to be plucked and enjoyed

I'm so excited because my fig trees have been bearing fruit and that fruit is finally ready to be plucked and savored. My figs are planted in pots because it's too cold and windy in this part of the world for the trees to survive the winter. Instead, in late fall, they are wrapped in burlap and placed in a dark, unheated barn.  This provides a safe environment, allowing the plants to spend the necessary dormant period so that they are energized to produce fruit again next spring.

Please continue reading for more interesting facts about figs and to check out more pictures.

One of the many joys of the late-summer harvest is biting into a sweet, juicy, plump fig. The fig is not a true fruit in the botanical sense of the word, but a fleshy receptacle housing thousands of tiny fruits. The fig has tremendous nutritional and medicinal properties and has been prized since ancient times. 

First cultivated 5,000 years ago in the Middle East, fresh figs are an excellent source of potassium and fiber and, when dried, these nutritional elements are even more concentrated. In fact, dried figs are so sweet that they were used as a sweetening agent long before sugar was introduced to the world. The stems and leaves of the fig tree contain a milky, coagulating substance that is said to rid the skin of wrinkles and calluses. In ancient Greece, fig-tree branches were used to stir cheese, accelerating the coagulation process.

If you're fortunate enough to have a fig tree, be sure to wait until the figs are ripe before picking them.  They will not ripen once they're picked. Figs are highly perishable and need to be eaten quickly. A perfectly ripe fig is a fabulous dessert by itself, but figs marry well with countless other flavors, from sweet to savory and raw to cooked.

This beautiful braided fig tree is an Italian purple-red. I really love the taste of the fruit.

Look at this plate of Italian purple-reds! So gorgeous and delicious!

This fig is actually a cutting from a tree that my father grew in his well-protected garden in Nutley, New Jersey.

It's a common variety that produces a light-green fig. When you take a bite, the inside is a gorgeous pink.

Still life with Vivaldi.

Comments

[A Cowboy's Wife]

Love the cat...not familiar at all with figs though. I mean, I've seen them around and all but have never tasted one. You make them sound delicious!

[Kristin Crowder]

Yum!!! Reminds me of figs from my Papaw's house!

[Jan Erickson]

Hi Martha, I don't remember when I first saw a fig tree, but I do remember being surprised that the small green fig was responsible for the delicious filling in fig bars. My neighbor has one like yours that is a cutting from your father's tree. It's beautiful like yours and it makes it through the winter here near Seattle without being wrapped. I love your photos. Vivaldi looks beautiful in that last photo. Thanks again for sharing. We had another fierce thunder storm again this evening, but nothing bad resulted from it. Thank goodness. Jan

[maurdel]

They look fantastic! We have a large tree w/ very small brown figs- still yummy.
Why have I read before that the milky white substance in the stems and leaves that M talks about, is poisonous? Does anyone know if that is true?
It is interesting how the Greeks used it/the stems to make cheese. Wonder if it acts like rennet.

[Ewa]

This is great idea to plant them in pots. In my area they can not survive winter as well. I feel like planting it and overwintering it.
/Ewa

[Sherrry]

I am fascinated that you can grow figs so far north! The one thing I miss most about my Louisiana garden is the fig trees. They ripen in mid-July though and I never learned the variety. Still they made wonderful preserves and I loved walking through the garden early in the morning and picking them fresh for my breakfast.

I am curious though about what varieties I might try to grow in pots. They see so tiny compared to the ones in my old garden, but any ripe fig at all is well worth the effort! Might you do an article on the subject or perhaps just expand upon this blog?

[Sonia F.]

Martha,

You are lucky. Each year, neighborhood kids and birds beat us to the figs on our fig tree.

I agree. You have never tasted heaven until you bite into a delicious fig. My mother made a wonderful fig preserve each year with orange and lemon rinds. Unfortunately, I did not gain her canning skills. One day I will try though.

Thanks for bringing back the memories.

Sonia

[Rowaida Flayhan]

Dear Martha!
The figs looks delicious. Would love to share with a recipe that I am sure you will love.
Love you Martha.
God Bless
Rowaida Flayhan
Fig Jam
This is an Authentic Lebanese Recipe
2 Ibs. dried figs
3 cups sugar
3 cups water
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp. roasted sesame seeds
1/4 tsp. powdered mustikah (gum arable)
1/4 cup pine kernels
1/2 to 1 cup walnuts

This delicious and nourishing jam will keep for several months, unsealed, in a cool place. The figs are preserved in the fall when the fruit is in its prime and the jam is relished by Lebanese villagers as a spread for bread, as a pudding or just as a sweet.

Cut the dried figs in small pieces. Dissolve sugar in water and bring to a full boil. Skim off the foam. Add lemon juice. Place figs in the syrup and boil together on a medium flame. Gradually increase the flame, stirring mixture constantly to avoid burning. Add walnuts, pine nuts, sesame seeds and cook on low fire for five minutes stirring constantly. Remove from fire. Stir in mustikah. Pour into jars. Decorate tops with walnut halves which have been lightly toasted.

[RamonaZF]

I was only recently able to get fresh figs to try... I'd only eaten dried before. It was a wonderful experience... I baked them with orange juice and freshly grated ginger, and served them with whipped marscapone cheese. My family LOVED them! Thanks so much for sharing about your fig trees... especially how to winter them. I hope I someday have the space and means to try these sorts of things.

[l kincaid]

I GREW UP EATING FIGS AND PLAYING IN THE TREES. I'M SAD TO SAY I DON'T CARE FOR THEM ANY LONGER, YET I LOVE THE LOOK OF THE FRUIT AND TO CUT THEM OPEN IS A JOY AND TO SEE THE BEAUTIFUL COLOR MOTHER NATURE HAS GIVEN THIS "YUCKY" FRUIT.
THE TREES ARE THE BEST TO CLIMB FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES...
ENJOY THE SEASON
L.

[Beth]

We have a fig bush in our yard. In North Carolina the winters are fairly mild & the bush is very hardy. I didn't know it but we must have the "Italian" version because the fruit turns reddish/purple. This particular fig tree has been in this yard a very long time because my now deceased grandmother planted it.

[Amy in Houston]

When I was growing up in New Orleans, seemed like everyone had fig trees in their back yards. Now nobody wants to have them anymore! One of my neighbors has one, and I might ask if I can mooch a few. . .

[diane Leib]

I'm glad to see this blog entry about figs! I planted a tree outdoors (NY) last spring (2007) for the look, not the fruit, not being well-acquainted myself with figs. It survived the winter because, I guess, it realized it was on its own. The location gets lots of sun, but also is fully exposed to the elements.
This winter I would like to take better precaution. It's grown too big now to put in a pot and bring indoors, so what is the proper procedure for overwintering it outside? What to do, and when?
Also, mine is a green fig... when are the figs ready to eat, what should I look for? The tree has lots of fruit.
Thanks.

[Ann]

Martha,
I think that is so neat that you have a memory of your dad growing in your garden.

I have a Bay Leaf plant in my kitchen that was started from a plant my mom has at her house. I keep it in doors so its protected. I'm hoping to have it a long time.

[Judy C]

very cool, Martha..
our fig tree, zone 8, does great year after year.

You're so right about waiting to pick, I've learned that lesson;-)
can we say pucker up please..

[Phyllis]

Good to know that figs work well in pot culture. We're about the same zone as Bedford, so we may need to give this a try.

[kelli]

It was nice to see your figs! I just made fig preserves myself using the popular Brown Turkey figs of the south harvested from my husband's grandmother's trees. So sweet and nutritious!

[KellySchwark.com]

I just love the look of the braided trunk! As if the delicious taste of figs isn't enough to jump start some inpiration, the color of the fruit is stunning and the leaves are equally beautiful!

Thanks Martha!
Kelly
www.KellySchwark.com

[Jay]

I had my first fresh figs while bicycling last fall through Morocco enroute to Dakar, Senegal. They were the best things I have ever eaten. We treated them as if they were fine cargo.

[Jenny]

Hi,
I live way in south Georgia and we have had fig trees around our farm for as long as I can remember...
One of the best (and longest lasting) treats we had besides eating the plump, delicious fruit off of the trees was my grandmother's homemade fig preserves.
She would use a very unusual ingredient- strawberry jello to make the most delicious preserves that we cherished throughout the year.
She is now in a nursing home and is suffering very bad health. I am hoping to find her recipe in her drawers and books of many and re-create this wonderful memory.

[Linda]

Hi Martha:
I love figs too. My mother lived next door to an italian immigrant who just adored gardening in his teeny tiny little backyard. He crammed so much vegetables, fruit, and flowers that it was a beautiful harvest every year. In that tiny space was a HUGE towering fig tree which he pruned every year. Tons of glorious figs were available and shared with my family every year. He gave my mother a cutting from that fig tree which she planted and for many years it thrived and produced lots of figs. I love figs. That fig tree no longer exists anymore, but I remember it well.

Linda

[Cindy Bricker]

(I love Vivaldi in the still life! Mrrrrowww! For those of you who read my posts, you can figure out that I'm fond of cats! =^..^=)

I'm not particularly fond of figs (the seeds!), nor can I say that I've eaten one whole (taken a bite out of the flesh). Yours, Martha, are beautiful, though, and when I saw your subject for today, I thought "how in the world is she growing figs"?!!, but justified it in my mind with your reliance on your trusted greenhouses. I'm a little south of you, in Western Maryland, and would consider it lucky to even have success over-wintering this genus.

I l-o-v-e that you have your special fig tree from childhood - what tremendous sentimental value! It appears to be thriving successfully.

Summer (in spite of the heat and humidity) is starting to slip on by.

Big sigh!

=^..^=

[Zeinab]

hi, i am Zeinab from Egypt farawat country , and that tree planted in our country ( Marsa Matrouh ) Roumeil Museume her at my country and we are near Alexandria city, and i was so glad to see that fruit in your site , bye

[Marie-Pier]

Figs are my ultimate favorite fruit... The most delicious thing that grown in this Earth, I believe. Thanks for sharing!

[Paula M. :)]

Martha,
I am green with envy like the unripened fig!! LOL
LOVE fresh figs!! I am drooling looking at your beautiful photos. Vivaldi looks so handsome sitting next to your prize fruit!
How wonderful you have a tree from your Dad's fig tree. That has to be very special indeed!
Where do you buy your specimens from? I live in CT and would love a tree. I don't have a barn but can you place one in your garage for winterizing?
Enjoy your delicious harvest!
Paula :)