Figs

Figs seem to be showing up earlier than usual this year. I ate a big purple ripe one already. They are however taking longer to turn purple, it seems. The farm is surrounded by fig trees, 1 tree on each of the 3 sides of the property line. Every year I get more figs than I can eat. My dog would pick up ripe figs that fell on the ground to eat them, too. The birds would stop on the trees to eat them. Of course the squirrels love them, too. I took baskets full of figs to give away at the office. Someone happened to be visiting from Canada. He told me that his local market was selling figs for 99 cents each!!!!! I can't imagine having to pay money for figs.

Last year I started to dry some figs in the oven. All you need to do is cut them in half, place them with the open side up on baking sheets, and put them in the oven with the lowest temperature setting. It takes over 10 hours or so to dry them. I wanted to preserve them for later. The problem was that they were so good that I ate all the dried figs within a couple weeks!

I can't wait to make some dried figs again.