Saturday, March 7, 2009

Figs





Have you tried this delicious fruit?


I tried my first ever fig yesterday! I've never liked the look of dried figs and hadn't bothered to investigate fresh ones....but yesterday I took the plunge and tasted a fresh fig...and now I'm converted!


I was at one of my clients home yesterday and she has a large tree in the backyard. I'd asked a couple of weeks ago about what kind of tree it was, etc...and yesterday she had some fruit sitting on the kitchen bench...my client peeled on for me to taste.....so sweet!



I pulled down my copy of Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion today to find some ways to use figs....apart from with blue cheese..which I DONT like!

Stephanie writes...."Eating a fully ripe fig warm from the tree is an emotional experience. A basket of freshly picked figs bought to the table with a soft white cheese or a plate of just-sliced curls of palest pink ham has to be the perfect begining to a late-summer lunch." (page 442, The Cook's Companion)

I'd love to plant a tree in my backyard....along with the vege patch that I'm planning!

What do you think? Do you like figs? Tell me what you've recently discovered that you've found that you like, despite your previous opinion?

CYa xx

Lisa


5 comments:

HomeGrownKids said...

Gasp! Choke! Splutter! I am SOOOO green with jealousy. You have Stephanie Alexander? Way cool!

Figs? Can't say I like them. To be fair though, can't say I've tried fresh ones...the look doesn't turn me on though, I must say.

However, you know my latest fad is Green Smoothies so if I can down a glass of spinach or Cos Lettuce then surely fresh figs can't be that bad. lol

Anonymous said...

I like (after much training of my palate) dried figs.

Because I was a very fussy (read that as unhealthy) eater myself, I didn't limit what I fed my children to what I liked myself. I'm sure that with the likelihood that among the things I like there would be something that didn't appeal to them, a few generations would result in an ever tightening circle of restricted food choices.

So I gave them figs. All of my children like them very much, and so I have tried to like them for a long time. Eventually, I found I did. :) I have only tried fresh figs once, and didn't particularly enjoy them; too gritty.

I like the idea of trying them with a soft cheese, though. Will have to give them another go.

Amanda said...

No, I haven't tried figs... dried or fresh or whatever way... are they easy to buy? the fresh ones I mean. Can't say I have seen them, but then I haven't been looking for them, lol...

Lisa said...

Amanda

Figs are available now in the shops...be prepared for a steep price! $27.00 per kg in Woolies yesterday...I nearly died...but people must buy them as there wasn't one to be found!

The fruit shop across the mall was selling figs for under $10.00/kg...but I didn't go in as I had a massive trolley to navigate and the fruit shop was crowded!

Mrs BB; you are one smart mama!
Good on you for not limiting your kids to foods that you like! I've found that my tastes have changed as I get older...and I'm willing to try foods that previously I would have rejected....based on smell and texture!
I've never liked foods with a crumbley texture, ie trifle...and figs would qualify for the texture!
I think that it stems from my adversion to being fed liver as a kid...my mum always just liver that was grainy in it's texture.

Smell still rules my preferences though...tea and blue vein cheese will not pass into my mouth based solely on their smell.....I've never tried either as I can't abide the smell!
The adversion to blue cheese comes from when I was a kid...we lived in a town in NZ that was famous for it's blue cheese....but the smell from the factory put me off well and truely! I'd go the long way 'round to avoid having to go past the place!

xx

Anonymous said...

That's funny about the tea. My husband has never tried it but vows he hates it, all based on the smell. I don't really think tea smells like anything, so I don't quite get it.

The blue cheese I can understand though: the smell is hardly tempting. ;)