Fig marmalade (31 July 2021)

Suddenly we have ripe figs. They’re good! 3.5 kg figs, 2kg sugar, 3 oranges, 3 lemons, both zest+juice, 5-spice, extra star anise, cinnamon, vanilla, orange blossom water, elbow grease. Result is 4 liters jam.

For a special jar add some orujo or marc.

Figs continued

Fresh figs (off a tree) are quite nice, if they're completely ripe. Many fall when they're not completely sweet. Let's see if that gets better by drying them. 30 seconds in boiling water to kill off fungii, bacterii and insectii, then dry for a number of days. We'll see. And taste.

Figs

We always looked for a house with a big old walnut tree. Not many of those here, they don't like dry and hot. But figs do! There is quite a big one here. I noticed it last year August already, with all it's figs dropped off, and unpicked, and a thick sweet scent like Pedro Ximenez, if you get my drift.

Fig season starts NOW. All of a sudden there are a lot of figs, that were really green last week, turning dark! And they are very good. Quite unlike the fresh figs in The Netherlands. I always found them rather mwah, nothing much.

It isn't easy to judge a fig's ripeness, but we'll study it carefully the coming days.

Meanwhile, this is appears to be a special tree, as other figs around here have no ripe fruit at all!