Got my first fig of the year today would have been 2 but a bird beat me to 1.

Laura, if you can have honey, I done in the past recipes with that.

Glenn, if you live close by, I would share the figs with you. I have an over load of figs right now and most people don't know what is a fig? they are only familiar with fig newtons.:)

When looking at magazines yesterday I saw this recipe that don't require processing if anybody still has figs.

Silvia

http://www.southernliving.com/recipes/fig-lemon-refrigerator-jam-recipe

Hi everyone!

Silvia, fig newtons! You made me laugh! Your pictures and recipes are mouth-watering! My neighbors across the street have a Brown Turkey fig. Hoping I'll get a few this year from them! Or I'll get some at the farmer's market this weekend.

Carol

Carol, check out the recipes in the Southern Living July issue, they also had a seed saver that I met at Monticello, they said that he has an annual garden party in NC where more than 200 people show up to sample the 800+ tomatoes that he plants.

If the figs were not so perishable, I would mail you a box. Today I had boxes of avocados and figs to give away. Every one knows an avocado but the fig? no, they got suspicious! Remember the president that ate a tomato long time ago to probe that is not poison? well that happened with the figs when I send them to a workplace, they had questions about the color, and seeds? and how do you eat it?. I told my daughter, they are ready for a fig class! lol

In the link from the magazine, there are also savory recipes for Laura if she is up to it. I saw one that I did it before, figs wrapped in bacon. When I was in Spain, they had "rabitos" as they called them are figs dipped in chocolate, just like strawberries, I might do that.

Silvia

How funny, a fig class! I did get a few from my neighbors and they are tasty. Oh my goodness, yes, anything dunked in chocolate will do it for the picky eaters. :)

Thanks for the fig recipes Silvia. I will make use of them. I just made some Salsa with some of our tomatoes and hot peppers from the garden in the water bath canner.

Which fig trees get really large, and make an abundant crop of sweet figs that does well in florida? I have LSU Purple but it is more of a shrubby tree (multiple stems) than an actual large tree.

My mom and grandma live in Phx AZ and grow some some unknown-named fig trees that make really sweet figs. My grandma moved there after WW2 and has has that same tree. My mom had a piece in her yard as well. They must like the dry heat to get really sweet.

A few years ago, I bought a 21 qt All American Pressure Canner and a propane double burner setup so I could use it out on the covered patio but have yet to use it! (bad lol) I am going to try and do green beans, and some different meat sauces and chili this fall when it cools off. DH likes to make a super spicy beef chili that burns his taste buds off.

Does anyone here ever Pressure Can anything?

Silvia thank you for the offer but I live to far away. I love figs when I was a kid I would wait all year for the figs off the tree next door. I would get them all sense my neighbor thought they were poison

Carol, I am glad that you got some figs, I also like whole figs made with a light syrup and with a piece of cheese, that is one of my favorites. In France they had the figs kind of candy caramelized and they were good but very sweet. I bought dried figs in Greece, they had some big white figs and they were good.

You are welcome Helen, I have a big inexpensive pot that I bought in Arizona, the one that is used to make tamales and I used it to make apple sauce there. Lately I decided to make only blueberry preserves because that is my family's favorite. And we only like fresh salsa when tomato season. For low acid canning, you need a pressure cooker, that is why I don't need it or use it.

In Phoenix I had a whole orchard with the most amazing fruit, my favorite were the apricots and peaches, I had the Black Mission figs and they were sweet and not watery, almost a dry consistency.

In my experience all the fig trees have a shrubby tendency, you can keep it trimmed like I usually do so I can walk under. The near by you pick farm has a lot of varieties of fig trees that do well in the area, but there was none that I thought it excel in taste, from what I remember they had Brown Turkey, Celeste, Alma and others, the biggest one was the Texas Everbearing.

Glenn, you are just like me, I have been eating figs since I can remember as a child, the fig that we had in my childhood home had the sweetest and biggest figs that I have ever seen, it was probably the organic fertilizers and volcanic soil that we had....

Here is a sample of my 3 varieties, on the left is the unknown, the middle is my favorite Marseilles and the right a green one Atreano, the last 2 are in containers. Notice that from the same tree, they can have different sizes.

I'm seriously jealous of you fig people! :)

Silvia, you have such a lovely garden. I live in east Orlando. Do you think I could visit your garden some time?

Helen, I forgot to tell you that if you like the LSU purple, you probably like better the LSU gold variety. Today's figs are going to the dehydrator, problem solved.:)

Thank you Statice, it is the slow season in my garden, veggie beds are clean waiting for fall to be replanted again. I am just harvesting fruit and picking weeds. I used to have garden parties at my house in April and October when the garden is full...In October is persimmon season, I am looking forward to my favorite fruit in this garden!

Silvia

Growing stuff in AZ was actually so much easier than here as long as I could keep stuff watered. Less diseases and less bugs! lol

I love making tamales. I learned from my best friend's mom whose whole family would get together a few times a year and make tons of them. Its a lot of work so I usually only make them once a year in the fall sometime when it wont heat up the house too much. Plus fall means tamales for me...and pumpkin bars lol. I usually make enough tamales to freeze a lot of extras. I have a big tall tamale steamer pot. Sometimes I also use the waterbath canner too. You can take the metal rack out that holds the jars and flip it upside down and stack the tamales in there.. kinda staggered, so the steam can get through them. You can get a ton of them in there. I usually do my meat a day or two ahead of time, shred it up, and put it in the fridge so less work all at once. Half the time I use parchment paper to wrap them instead of corn husks because its so much easier.

My husband grew up in AZ and he loves Mexican food. It is hard to find a good restaurant though. So if you could just send some of those tamales over here c/o Rick we would appreciate it. hehe!

In AZ I liked Garcias..no clue what its like nowdays. There were actually some good hole in the wall little places that had good Mexican food. I grew up eating that way in So Cal and later Phx. so cooking it is second nature for me. I haven't found a great Mexican restaurant in FL yet. People say go here, or go there (I won't name names lol), then I do and its just not the same or even close to authentic lol. I kinda gave up and make my own but then it would be nice to go somewhere and have drinks and be served lol.

Helen those tamales look good! my favorite are wrapped in banana leaves. I spent about the same time living in the West, the East, the Middle and now the South,:) And I have my favorites in food. In Phoenix, the boys in the family liked Filibertos, I don't think there is a better value or taste. My favorite was the South Phoenix supermarket, where the food was extremely fresh and clean and great service! A shrimp ceviche and agua fresca, what a lunch and cheap! For a fancy place Barrio Cafe with chef Esparza. Food city is where I bought the tamale pot for food preserving, and the tortillas just made there and the hot poblanos roasted outside, one huge bag for a $1.

Well, talking about figs, I asked a lot of my neighbors if they like figs and the answer was a puzzled look on their face and no they did not know them. Because they are so perishable, I am drying them day and night...

Christmas in Phoenix is never without the many, many hours of the mariachi festival and tons of homemade tamales. I used to hide so I would not be gifted so many tamales around that time of the year.:)

There is a lot of places in Phoenix that mail order tamales to anywhere in the country. One year, I mailed my brothers in the East Coast all sorts of different kinds.

For those who still are harvesting figs, I saw this easy way to eat them, I will make it for the weekend...

Silvia

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/347-figs-stuffed-with-goat-cheese

I remember Filibertos. I used to get chicken enchiladas when we went there. They were really good. We used to go to Macayos sometimes for Happy Hour margaritas.

Another place I loved (not Mexican food) was Brad's Fish n Chips lol. Best shrimp and fried zucchini ever!

Maybe I will dry some chilies and make a Ristra this fall like the ones they sold on the roadsides outside of Phoenix. Its been awhile since I had one of those. I don't know how well they would hold up here with all the humidity but they are festive and pretty.

Good idea on using the dehydrator on your figs. I have one that I use on herbs and peppers. My oldest son likes to cook and makes a siracha paste then dries it with the dehydrator. Makes ones eyes burn when he does that lol.

When I met my dh, he used to buy tamales from the hispanic ladies selling them outside of Frys foodstores (remember those?) . They sometimes had potatoes, corn, and every other thing in them. Little did he know I knew how to cook them lol. You do find quite a few different variations of tamales in the Southwest. In Louisiana our neighbors made crawfish tamales and served them for breakfast. The Aztecs are supposedly the true inventors of tamales. From what I read, they were cooked buried in a pit of coals.

I do have a ton of banana leaves here. I just planted 3 more varieties. I might try a few that way this fall for fun.

Silvia --- my grandmother (God bless her soul) used to make all kinds of preserves (over 20 varieties). The best two were: small green figs (not ripe) and the other tiny green pine cones --- both had the most gorgeous looking light green syrup with extraordinary taste!

Tony

this thread has made me very jealous!! I've always loved figs! Both my parents and grandparents still have large trees in their yards. My dad's tree produces large figs, over 2" long and they are like sweet, sticky jam when ripe. During season we would pick a few pounds every day and of all foods figs definitely bring the most childhood memories... Which brings me to one of my trees. I grow all but one of my trees in pots due tho nematodes. My brown turkey produced a ton of figs, they grew to about half an inch and then just stopped. It dropped a couple this week but most of them are still on there just not developing at all. Any of you seasoned growers know why this might happen? It has some rust and has dropped a few leaves but not many. I was really looking forward to it as my LSU celeste has very few fruits on this year and both petit negri and violet de bordeaux are still very small :( any thoughts? Could I be overwatering? Because they're in pots I water every couple or a few days.

Hi Tony! You have such wonderful memories from your grandmother, I wish that you would have the recipes to share them with us. The one that you described with the not ripe figs sounds like the ones my cousins used to make. I did not have living grandmothers and I was raised by my father, one of these days I am going to get a recipe from them. The one with the green pine cones sound very exotic and I bet it was delicious! Thank you for sharing your experience, I always learn new things from gardeners like you.

Helen, we could talk for hours remembering Arizona, I used to travel all around the state and my favorite place for fish tacos was in Tucson, they also had a seed place from Native American varieties and I was very interested in their food. They had a great and expensive place to eat in a casino South of Phoenix, Wild Horse Pass. Now that I remember I went to a bar South of Tucson where they filmed the movies Alice doesn't live here anymore, Vanishing Point, Boys on the side, the place is Longhorn Grill. Across the street was the Cow Palace, the most famous steakhouse in the world...

I bet you dh was happily surprised with your cooking abilities and don't forget gardening too, we should be proud of that.

Silvia

I could live in Tucson. My husband grew up there but he has no desire to go back. On second thought I don't know if my nose or eyes could stand that dry air. My nose starts bleeding after a day or two of being there and my eyes are dry in Florida! I just love the plants that you grow there. I am so into succulents.

Laura, you would of love my house in Phoenix, xeriscape front yard with every succulent you can think of and one lonely palo verde tree. Have you ever been to Tombstone? well, we got the ornaments with their inspiration. The backyard was the oasis, fruit trees, roses and a little patch of grass, perfect! As we speak, somebody is very happy there, it went to the right nice young couple....

Maria, I would need more info on your problem with the figs and which ones they are, the potted ones or the one in the ground or all of them? how old are they?

Silvia

Silvia, yes I have been to Tombstone. The joke was that my father-in-law was the undertaker in Tombstone. He was a mortician in the area...a lot of small towns. Even still it wasn't a full time job and he eventually gave it up. He worked as a safety inspector in the copper mines (a big one in Bisbee).

I think we are covering a lot of territory on this fig thread ;-)

Silvia, the tree is Brown Turkey, potted, bought from Home Depot originally. 6' tall now, it had a few fruits on earlier in the year and I got to have one, which was nice and sweet (not amazing though).

Heres a few pictures of the fruit that's on the tree now and two I found on the ground this morning.

I'm starting to get figs there smaller than normal and not as many but I'll take what I can get.

Laura, I like the ghosts towns around Arizona and I remember Bisbee and the haunted hotel...

Maria, yes the figs look not ripe yet, have you checked on the roots and the size of the pot? some fig varieties grow very large and sometimes don't do well in a container. My variety that said goes well in a container, I have it in a large pot, and the figs are the size that they are supposed to be and have no problems. The other variety that I have in a container, I have to trim the roots when needed.

In my experience figs always do better planted in the ground, in our area with the nematode problem, just have to put a lot of organic material, once they are strong they grow fine. If the tree is young the figs might not be of a good quality but later they get better.

Since you are in zone 10, your figs should be ripe by now, my figs and the local u- pick farm fig varieties are all ready to be harvested.

Glenn, at least you are getting some figs. I noticed the same thing with my avocados, they are smaller in size than other years but they are still very good! I think is because of the drought that we had. My figs are the same size they always been and are getting a lot of rain now.

Silvia

Silvia, I repotted this tree mid April, from 1 gallon pot to a much larger one. I wouldn't have thought that it could outgrow its' pot in less then 3 months. So after seeing your message I decided to check on the roots and lo and behold there was a huge mass of roots immediately underneath a thin layer of mulch!

It took me almost an hour to release the roots from the pot, due to bottom of the pot being wider then it's neck (nightmare). First picture is of the tree mid April at about 2' freshly transplanted and the second is today after loosening up all the roots and some trimming. Pretty much all the figs are gone but I'm hoping the tree is much happier now, in the ground with lots of compost and mulch. Fingers crossed it's not bothered too much by nematodes!

Thanks for your very sound advice!

oh Maria I took one look at that pot and thought "bad news"! you make that mistake once and you don't make it again. You love the pot so breaking it isn't an option. I hope you fig loves being in the ground. Load it up with organics the nematodes hate that.

Glenn the figs on my LSU gold are really small too.

Silvia thanks or the drying idea. No figs to dry now but maybe next year. God only knows what my life will be like then :o

Silvia we stayed one night at the Copper Queen hotel in Bisbee...that was all we could afford. It was pretty cool. I didn't know it was haunted (or forgot) but I'm sure that is the one you are thinking about.

Figs.

Maria, I am so proud of you! in this heat, you managed to take care of the fig transplant and all, girl power! Hopefully by next season, it will produce nice figs, you have the space so it is not a problem like in my case. Just keep adding any organics on top that you can think of, my father used to do that and I do the same, if I have leftover soil from tomatoes, I use that. Figs are very hardy and grow fast. And I know what are you talking about the nice looking pot you got, sometimes they are not even on the bottom and retained water in different places. The pots that I got and are like that I used them for decoration only.

Laura, in my life I learned to adapt to any new situation and think the best, happiness is in the heart not in a place. Keep us informed and wherever you are gardening is coming with you, just like me.

And yes, that is the haunted hotel. I hope that you got to see the incredible and magnificent rose house in Tombstone, I can still smell and remember the beauty of the plant, one rose that filled the whole room and the scent!

For every one that like figs, this is my garden this morning and is packed! 3 figs, two in pots, one in the background, on the left side a nectarine, a red and a Key West lime and in the back a rainbow eucalyptus, on the right a Meyers lemon and a young mango.

nice garden silvia. Yes we saw the rose bush but it was winter and no blooms.

I ate a couple of the LSU golds this AM...small but tasty! yum

For those of you drying the figs, I prefer the ones that I dried whole instead of the cut in half and I made this recipe today with some of the dried figs, it is so good! I wish you could all come to dinner, I made the last kale salad, use the last tomatoes in a chickpea shakshuka and for dessert the fig bars.

Some pictures for you, dried figs and bars

http://bromabakery.com/2016/01/dark-chocolate-fig-oatmeal-bars-recipe.html

goodness Silvia this made my mouth water!! btw your garden looks lovely! You're lucky to still have kale and tomatoes, my kale is usually done beginning of June, I've pulled tomatoes out and really apart from fruit trees, ginger, turmeric, jerusalem artichokes and yard long beans theres nothing else growing in my garden right now...But honestly it's just too hot to even be outside. Daydreaming about driving up to New England this time of the year. p.s. just scrolled up for another look at those fig bars yummy!

p.p.s my boyfriend bought that blue pot, I thought it was lovely but now not sure I ever want to use it again. Think I'm still sore from wrestling with it the other day :)

thank you for the drying tip. I really had not given it much thought and right now I don't have any figs. :-(

my new oven has a drying feature and I have not used it yet. I love this oven/stove btw. It has an inductions stove top that I love. I paid WAY too much for it but it is what I wanted so why not?

If I end up moving that sucker is coming with me! hehe

yep Maria I hurt my back trying to get an Agave out of a hand thrown pot with inward curving edges. but the pot is intact!

Laura that sounds like a nightmare, prickly Agave and an awkward pot! We're long overdue for a new oven - I'm jealous ;)

Laura, if you end up moving, you can take fig cuttings for sure! they are easy to root. And congrats on the new stove/oven you deserve it, good for you!

Maria, I can still taste those yummy bars! I have not had anything so good lately, you have to make them, they are easy! just get some dried figs and a good dark chocolate, the combination is amazing.

I picked my last kale of the season before it gets buggy, still clean and beautiful leaves today. and the last tomatoes of the season, a bunch of great tasting beefsteaks!

Thank the boyfriend for his good thoughts on the pot, I have one pot too that I had great ideas for it, but no more, it is used as a table now.:)

This morning this plant on top of the mentioned pot was covered with white flowers...

Silvia

I am also daydreaming about taking a trip up the east coast to see the colors this fall and breathing crisp cool air lol.

My figs still aren't ripe. hopefully soon!

That stove was one of those unplanned purchases. I was cooking and knocked over the glass bottle of olive oil and it hit the top of my other stove and cracked the stove top. Crap! I just didn't want to sink a lot of money into a stove I really didn't like although it was relatively new.

Silvia my life is up in the air right now I am learning to live with that. I love my house and yard and I really don't want to start over. I try to stay out of my head and not think about it. First things first...my husband needs to find a job.

Laura, I know how difficult is to start over, hopefully everything works out for both of you, with prayers, optimism and action things get resolved. Sending good vibes your way!

Silvia

I had an "ah-ha" moment concerning my LSU Gold fig. It isn't gold. I looked it up on line. they should be gold. It isn't LSU Purple variety either. It is now officially a NOID (no ID) fig. At first it would not hold the figs to maturity and now the figs are really small but very good!

Figs are coming in I been getting 3or4 a day not a lot but still great to have.

Laura & Glen I am jealous of you both :) slim pickings over here!

I've just been reading some old posts here by someone called Herman about fig "pinching" to induce fruit formation. Usually done before last frost. So since my Brown Turkey dropped all of it's fruit and now most of it's rusty leaves as well, do you think there's a chance it might produce again this year if I "pinched" it :)... seeing that we have no frost down here...usually.

Getting bored and antsy looking at its bare branches now :) So bored I bought two more mango trees (eye roll) in spite of my boyfriend issuing a ban on all tree shopping. I pinky promised too :)

Maria I've never tried the pinching on figs. But I understand the ban on fruit trees I'm under one right now but every time I get yelled at I just get more and now I'm out of room and I'm hoping to buy the lot next door. The ban started at 8 trees I now have 32 not included is the 30 cloned mulberries I just made.

oh my goodness 30 mulberries!!! I wish I could just buy the lot next door, my neighbors' :) Our lot is only 0.25 acre and my boyfriend loves the lawn so we are constantly "battling" over square footage. We have a huge 80 yr old haden mango that came with the property + 16 other young fruit trees and 10-15 banana plants ... so its getting "cozy" over here ;)

Latest purchases were impulse buys, guys at Excalibur offered me a taste of Mahachanok mango and I had to get it and then last week I got some Lemon Zest mangos from Truly Tropical and I knew the minute I tasted it - more lawn is going. If only the silly figs had ripened when they were suppose to this never would have happened! But that's it now no more trees!

it is the fault of those darn figs not ripening. One taste of figs and all would be right with the world. I love it! ;-)

My first LSU Purple fig for this year, ripened today..hopefully the rest will ripen soon. It was so sweet n good :)

I dont know about pinching but last year I didnt get as many figs as usual and someone told me to be sure and trim the branches back a little in the fall. So I did and this year its loaded. Does anyone else do that?

SJN my fig trees are young but one is getting pretty tall it might be time for a trim.

My newly identified NOID (hehe) keeps putting out new figs. There are figs of all stages of maturity and size. That is pretty cool. Now if I could get them a little larger...

Today is a sad day I picked me last 2 figs and have no more. But over all I had a good harvest. Now I have to wait till next year.