The Easiest Fig Appetizer

Hello! It’s fig season. I never liked figs as a child, but that’s because the only ones my family ate in Europe were the dried kind. {still good, I know…it was something about the texture!} These days, I can’t wait for the figs to be sold at our farm stand here in town, or get ripe on my neighbor’s big fig tree. Why? Because I adore fresh figs! They are so good. That there is a short fig season makes them special. And that they are usually ripe and ready for harvest around the time the summer fades into fall – well, you know how I love fall.   Here is the Easiest Fig Appetizer you’ll ever make-  I guarantee everyone will love it!

 

 

 

I love using what’s in season. Every mid-late August, I start looking for fresh figs. Our neighbor has a huge fig tree. Unfortunately, every bird in a fifty mile radius flies in on the daily to “just check” to see if they are at their juiciest and ripest. A few squirrels meander over there too.  How do they know these things? And don’t they know that figs are for us?!

 

 

It’s quite the battle, the fight over the figs from the neighbor’s tree.  She goes over there to check on her figs, and tries to pick as many as she can for people.  I hear her “shoo” the squirrels away, but the birds are not so easily scared.

 

 

 

 

Luckily, we have a little farmer’s stand near me,  a family-run farm where the fruits and vegetables are sold from the crates they are collected in from the nearby fields. You can buy fresh vegetables and fruits directly from the farm helpers who grow them.  I go there as often as possible, my linen market tote in hand, it’s a little bit of country right here in our suburbia!

 

 

When I saw a selection of fresh purple figs, I immediately snapped up two boxes. {this picture is from France, it’s quite a feat to distance, mask on, buy fruits and vegetables and speak audibly to the farm hands. : )  Throw in the need to shoot a photo and it was just too much!}

 

 

 

 

 

FIG HISTORY:

Figs have a long and symbolic history, they represent fertility, peace, and prosperity.  Among the oldest fruits eaten by humans, figs were used to sweeten food before sugar became widely available. Their latin name is Ficus carica, the word fig was first recorded in the English language in the 13th century. The fig derives its name from the French word figue.

 

 

Fig trees appear in both the Old and New Testament of the Bible {some scholars believe the forbidden fruit picked by Eve was a fig rather than an apple} – but it has been cultivated for much longer. Sumerian stone tablets dating back to 2500 B.C. record culinary use of figs, and remains of fig trees were found during excavations of Neolithic sites from 5000 B.C. Some historians consider it the first domesticated crop. The Greeks and Romans spread the fig throughout the Mediterranean. In the 1700’s, Spanish Franciscan missionaries brought the fig with them to Southern California, creating the variety of figs called Mission Fig.

 

 

 

 

 

A fig tree can live as long as 100 years and grow 50 feet tall, but most stay between 10 to 30 feet. Figs grow well in warm, dry climates, they need to be in the sun to ripen. Our neighbor’s tree isn’t the prettiest tree on the block, but once those figs ripen, it’s certainly beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figs pair beautifully with soft goat cheese, balsamic vinegar, and honey. The perfect balance between sweet and sour.  The base for this easy appetizer is just the figs. On top, the goat cheese shines with a splash of the balsamic, and a tiny drizzle of organic honey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here in our FrenchGardenHouse garden, we serve these as often as we can!  Everyone loves these…they are fresh, and oh so delicious!  Because I need to be gluten-free, I always make them like this. But, if you love good crusty bread, by all means serve the same ingredients to guests with slices of bread.  I make Ina’s crostini ahead of time, so that  making this variation is just as easy!

 

 

 

 

 

EASY FIG APPETIZER

 

INGREDIENTS:

* Ripe Figs. They can be the purple or green variety.
* Soft cheese, like a goat cheese. But I’ve used other kinds of soft cheese with great results!
* A good quality aged balsamic vinegar.
* Honey

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Select large, ripe figs, wash, and cut each in half. Make sure to cut off the little stem.

2. Put a small slice or a dollop of the soft cheese on each fig half.

3. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over each fig.

4. Drizzle a tiny amount of honey over each fig.

 

 

 

 

 

Pin this recipe to Pinterest to save it to make later.

 

 

 

I hope you can find fresh figs where you live and try this! The easiest and  most delicious appetizer you can find. You can thank me later.

 

 

 

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