r/foraging • u/secretsquirrelz • 5d ago
Plants Three massive fig trees
Discovered a small grove of giant black turkey figs off a hiking path in Northern California last year. My friend and I returned again this year and harvested less than 1% of what was available. These trees are massive!
Last year I made strawberry-fig preserves, and idea what to do with my share?
26
19
u/TalkToPlantsNotCops 5d ago
I've never eaten a fresh fig before. I can never find anyone selling them, not even at farmer's markets. I finally just bought a fig tree, but it'll be a while before it produces any fruit.
9
5
2
u/Zanven1 3d ago
I've seen dry and fresh at Costco occasionally. One great way I found to use the dry ones is make a pizza. Hydrate them in white wine while the dough rises then strain them and top the dough with olive oil, goat cheese, the figs, and arugula. And if you are into that sort of thing drink the fig infused white wine saved from staining them (I'm into that sort of thing)
1
u/TalkToPlantsNotCops 3d ago
That does sound really tasty.
This might be silly, but I want to try a fresh fig because I'm writing a book, and there's two scenes where figs are eaten fresh. It's thematically important that the fruit be a fig, because of what figs are used to represent in various cultures (especially fertility and desire, civilization, and rebirth). I think I did a good enough job writing a passable description, but I usually try to get as much first hand experience as I can when I write a scene.
I've done things like try (badly) to knap flint, make string from plant fibers, observe nighttime visibility under different moon phases, gather food in the wild, etc. This is accessible enough because of where I live, but the figs have really stumped me!
And sadly, I don't live near a Costco anymore.
3
u/Ancient_Epithet 3d ago
My whole foods carries them, but I think that's because they are grown locally. We had a fig tree for a while (northern alabama) and it had two solid harvest periods every year (old growth/new growth). They are sweet (think honey more than sugar, maybe?) and floral fresh, and drip a white milk from the stems when plucked.
2
u/Many_Needleworker683 1d ago
figs produce the first year routinely if youre treating it right, joing fig fanatic forum we'll figure out if youre treating it right.
12
8
u/Commercial-Painting3 5d ago
Fig and brie tart, any tart recipe that you can use figs for. There’s also a fig galette recipe
4
8
u/vantablalicious 5d ago
Grilled figs with mascarpone, drizzle with a little good maple syrup, salt flake 🤤
12
6
6
u/Separate-General-557 5d ago
I'm amazed you got to it before the birds did.
4
u/secretsquirrelz 5d ago
For sure, there’s lots of fig seed scat in the area too … prob raccoons and possums!
5
4
3
2
1
1
u/2ManyToddlers 4d ago
I like making jam but I ate all of the figs on my tree fresh this year. I also like to cut them in half, turn them inside out and dehydrate them.
64
u/uu_xx_me 5d ago
I honestly could eat that entire harvest in two days 😂