Figs and what to do with them!

Figs are bruts once established and need to be treated as such, here’s a good source Figs: pruning and training / RHS

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A good friend of our makes fig jam: really tasty!

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I finally did the recipe from the book a friend lent me -it was a fig and orange cake and you roasted the figs first.

In fact I was so impressed with that recipe and the next one I tried, I bought the book. It’s called " Le Gâteau dont tu es le héros: 12 recettes de base, 70 déclinaisons, 1 000 gâteaux à créer" and is widely available.

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Ripe, sweet figs covered in very dark chocolate (almost bitter)… yummy

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Just had a lunchtime salad with figs, tomatoes, blue cheese and crispy onions drizzled with balsamic vinegar. A strange combination but delicious.

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a lovely mix of flavours and textures!

Some of my most delicious and well-received concoctions have been “strange” :rofl:

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I don’t indulge with added flavours, textures or concoctions – I had permission from a neighbour to pick figs, black figs, from her tree whenever, and I liked nothing more than pickin’ and eatin’ straight off the tree. Same with blackberries!

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Freeze and add to other savoury dishes besides pork, they’re also a good addition to a tajine or with game birds and I like them roasted with andouillette and aligot.

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I took my terminal commerce students to chocolate factory in Duras yesterday. They had prunes d’Agen in chocolate. I ate one, it was free tasting, but didn’t love it :zany_face::rofl:

Tory, please excuse my ignorance of french secondary education, but are ‘terminal commerce students’ wannabe undertakers?

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I wondered that. Could it be this?

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Two or three layers of figs with cream or Greek yoghurt. Top with thin layer of dark, brown sugar (muscovado) and leave overnight in the fridge.

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There can be quite a difference between one prune and another.. and we all have our own preferences.

OH is currently munching his way through prunes d’Agen which have very tough skins and (to my mind) not much flavour. They are from a small enterprise we visited with our club. He’s valiantly soldiering on… determined not to waste ‘em.

The prunes d’Agen I prefer to eat (and use for my chocolates) are from Prunille and actually marked “cuisine” on the packet. These are large prunes with soft skins and succulent, tasty flesh. Even so, they won’t be everyone’s choice…

Years ago there was a Dordogne factory which produced boxes of chocolates at Christmastide.. dark chocolate outers filled with chestnut purée, some filled with prune purée… both absolutely fabulous. . Sadly not seen these in the shops for many years now… hence I make my own variation.

Dates are another fruit which can be delicious enrobed in dark chocolate. I often add a pinch of piment d’Espelette to the melted chocolate which gives a zing… :wink:

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As bonzo cat said they are final year students.

The best are prunes d’Agen mi-cuit.

C’est quoi un pruneau mi-cuit ? Le pruneau mi-cuit est un pruneau séché juqu’à 35% d’humidité, sans passer par une phase de séchage sévère et une réhydrataion à l’eau sucrée. Ce sont les pruneaux les plus naturels qui soit.

They are wonderfully soft and juicy.

Any prune d’Agen bought in a box or tin in a supermarket runs the risk of being old and drier.

The time to buy them is round about now, when the fresh crop has been harvested and lightly dried. The shops throughout Lot et Garonne make a big thing of it with large displays. The prunes are sold in large plastic bags and are wonderfully squidgy - delicious with natural yoghurt.

Driving along the Lot towards Villeneuve the air is filled with the wonderful smell of drying prunes.

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Quite possibly… :wink:

In our local supermarkets, Pruneaux d’Agen come in sachets whether from small suppliers or Prunille.

The latest small-producer’s packet tells us: harvested by hand, stoned by hand, no preservatives and good until 30/10/26.

Prunille don’t use preservatives :+1: but probably don’t harvest/stone by hand :wink: but still “good until 15/10/2026”

If they are stoned mi-cuit, I’m amazed they have tough skins and not much flavour.

The ones we’d eaten “fresh” on-site were delicious. :+1: which is why we made a point of buying their packets.

Shame - I wonder if they are last year’s?

That is a possibility. I’ll take every opportunity to buy fresh in future :+1:

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