What is your favorite fig recipe? Bettie

-- Bettie Ferguson (jobett@dixie-net.com), June 05, 2001

Answers

Sorry, this has nothing to do with recipes but I figured since you were asking, perhaps you had some trees. Do you have any idea how cold-hardy they are? My mother adores them and we live in zone 6. Wondering if they would survive!

-- Elizabeth (Lividia66@aol.com), June 05, 2001.

My figs are the old timey type and I think they would be cold hardy. We are building a house so I dug up and divided my fig trees.After replanting and giving a bunch away I still have some nice plants in pots.

-- Bettie Ferguson (jobett@dixie-net.com), June 05, 2001.

We have Brown Turkey Fig tree in zone 8. They don't handle really cold weather. We lost one when we had a bad winter. I live in lower Alabama. My tree is loaded and I am looking forward to making fig preserves and strawberry fig preserves. I will use some of those fig preserves to make Fig Cake. Faye.

-- Faye (rcart@millry.net), June 05, 2001.

I picked my first ripe fig today off my Brown Turkey. It was huge and delicious.

I think my favorite recipe for figs is just canning them in light syrup and lemon juice. They taste totally different than they do fresh. And have you priced canned figs at the grocery store? Like, about $3 for a can that has about six figs in it that taste like the can!

As far as the trees being hardy in USDA 6, you might want to try one of the varieties that do well in the pacific northwest such as Hardy Chicago or Osborne Prolific. You could also grow them in a huge container, or buy a dwarfing variety like Petit Negronne and put it in a container, but you won't get as many figs, obviously, as you would with a full size tree.

-- HannahMariaHolly (hannahholly@hotmail.com), June 06, 2001.

In my quest for figs in zone 3/4, I have come up with the following helpful sites for would-be fig growers:

http://www.nafex.org/fig.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/fruit/figs/figs.html

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/perennials/14339

http://www.eat-it.com/plants/figs.htm

http://www.raintreenursery.com/how_to/FIGS.html

http://home.earthlink.net/~raygivan/index.html

If you search on GardenWeb, you will also find many New Jersey and New York gardeners discussing the hows of their own outdoor fig trees as well as container grown.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), June 06, 2001.

I put a whole mess of figs in big pot, a cup of sugar to two cups figs, cut figs up. cut up a lemon in slivers, rind and all and put in pot. you don"t need any pectin, now simmer till reduced, and is getting thick. put in jars and seal, turn up side down for a half hour and then turn right side up. this is how we did it 50 years ago. and it is great. Love Irene

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), June 06, 2001.

I too am looking for fig recipes. Did you recieve any?

-- Alena Rogers (rogfam4@caltechnet.net), September 10, 2001.