Hi everyone…
Looks like we can expect a glut of Kiwi fruit in later months… we eat them fresh, whole (like a boiled egg) or sliced … but is there anything else to be done with them???
and, I’ve just noticed the Figs should be abundant this year… despite the lack of rain… I suspect the roots are down far enough to tap into the water table…
We eat them fresh, stewed, in jam, or pan-fried in halves with foie gras…
So more ideas for Figs too, please…
cheers
Blimey, pan fried with foie gras, mouths watering, 
Off to make bacon and eggs for lunch 
Just cut-side down…caramelized in the pan Bill… delicious.
We do freeze some (whole) and then give them to neighbours during the festive times (like Christmas) , when foie gras is a special treat…
Our next door neighbour caramelizes the defrosted figs in a hot pan, then deglazes with armagnac and, finally, trickles the alcoholic juices over the plate… ab fab !!
Fig and ginger chutney!
That’s cruel and sadistic Stella, drooling,
Not sure on the figs Stella; but i do like frozen fruit; that i can scoop out of a freezer…let it partly defrost then whizz it up and make fruit smoothies…lovely. Mix the fruit with plain yogurt… add a bit of honey if you like ( just tailor your own). That’s a drink with a few of your daily requirements in it.
Glenn, having loathed the dried stuff since childhood… I was amazed and thrilled to discover how delicious fresh figs are…
and my stodgy fig jam stirred into stewed apples… mmmm…
Never think of dried figs as bearing any relation to fresh figs… 
(an when fresh are frozen whole, they defrost beautifully…)
Love figs but this year they have dried on the tree and are the size of small salad tomatoes…
I’m watching and crossing fingers… hopefully ours ripen in a few weeks time… the earlier trees are a waste of time this year… 
oh no, I have had both dried and fresh figs…the latter are gorgeous… i did mean the kiwi’s frozen
Frozen Kiwi… on strict instructions from the neighbours…we have to pick them before the frost gets to them or they will be ruined…
How do they taste when defrosted ??
I put ginger into all sorts of jams… including Fig…but I never thought of Fig/ginger chutney…
well worth a try Vero… cheers
We’ve got a glut of prunes mirabelles. They’ve done spectacularly well this year, had to prop up branches weighed down with perfect golden globes.
Problem is, although sweet, they are rather short on flavour and have a very short life from full ripeness to ending up on the grass to be eaten by birds or invaded by worms.
I have a recipe for clafoute mirabelle from Marmiton which I shall cook up tomorrow, and it goes some way to reducing the mirabelle mountain, but it will be the culinary equivalent of a neutron bomb calorie-wise.
Any other suggestions (not chutney please, that’s a step too far…)?
I have two mirabelle trees…last year I had hundreds to share with my neighbours…I just like to eat mine straight off the tree…this year I watched them forming and beginning to ripen and then…gone…not even fallen just gone…
Same for my purple ones…I picked about half a dozen from one of my trees testing ripeness…and then suddenly gone…no fallers to attract wasps and hornets just disappeared…last year I ate loads…gave away bags full and sliced many more for the freezer…(they’re probably still in there…!) This year…zilch…
I generally eat up to a couple of dozen every time go into the garden, Helen, they nicer just off the tree and a litlle warm: but they are rather laxative in the natural state, and more-ish like peanuts and crisps.
I’m slightly doubtful about offering garden produce to neighbours, almost all of whom have gardens with fruitiers of one kind or another, as some people may feel it impolite to refuse, but dump the offering in the composter under cover of night… 
Peter… just a thought… when you have a glut… you could ask your neighbour if he knows anyone who might like the “glut” (whatever it is) as a gift…" rather than risk the fruit going to waste/attracting wasps etc etc…"
A simple conversation along those lines… who knows, maybe a local family… maybe not… maybe there is indeed no-one who would benefit… but the fact that you have asked will surely be appreciated.
First time I did the rounds of the village, armed with a basket of figs, folk eyed me a little wonderingly… when I mentioned the word “cadeaux”… their smiles could have lit up the skies…
PS: All else failing… I believe you can make a delicious eau de vie with Mirabelles… hic
XBBuy a bottle of alcol pour fruits, and a bocal. Sterilise bocal in oven at 110 for 15mins. Throw mirabelle in, pour on alcohol, some sugar, seal and leave. Shake from time to time and come Christmas time open and use the fruit on top of puddings, ice cream etc. You can add cinnamon sticks, star anise or whatever take your fancy.
To be doubly safe you can cook for 15 mins in a water bath, with something under bocal to stop it rattling against the pan, but many people say this is unnecessary as alcohol will be enough.
If you want to drink the alcohol after then use brandy or rum instead.
A great suggestion, Stella, asking around. I will certainly give that a try 
. And if that doesn’t have legs, I can try the legless eau-de-vie route I have a few home-brew bits and bobs knocking around, just need dusting down and brushing off the cortical cobwebs…
Look, I’ve put on my brasserie apron and bottle-brushes to show you I mean business, Stella
I’ve also had my hair shorn since my last selfie, so I’m altogether more light-headed than then. Whether that’s a good portent or an ill one is for others to judge…… I’ve always had a cyclothymic (“artistic”) temperament, like Tony Hancock 
