Sunday, August 29, 2010

Figs figs figs!!!

Why August is one of my favourite months despite it's hot humid sticky weather.

FIGS!

Below you can see an example of "farkizzan" and "tin", the 2 types of figs that ripen in August.  Farkizzan starts earlier, and Tin is the one that happens towards the end of August, but as you can see, the seasons overlap.  "tin" are the small green ones, and "farkizzan" are small purple ones.  I'm not 100% sure about this, but the small green ones are the ones that the Turkish use to make dried figs.. but I could be completely wrong about that! 

The season doesn't last long at all, it's really a case of "blink and you'll miss it".... luckily for me, we live in an agricultural haven, and my dad's taken the time to get to know the best produce that each vendor sells, so we get our figs from a lady called "Lippa" (which, if you know Zebbug Malta, is very common, as Lippa is the abbreviation of Phillippa, whch is the patron saint of Zebbug Malta).  She sells very few things, occasionally figs, sometimes capers, free range eggs (woo!), bayleaves... basically, always very seasonal produce, so you never really know what wares she'll be displaying until you get to the market.  I love this!

Anyway, the season is pretty much over, and the unfortunate thing about figs is that they really don't keep well, so I hope that you enjoyed them while they lasted!

I've been eating them plain, the way i love them most, but if you wrap a little piece of prosciutto around them and eat them raw, and possibly even stuff them with some mascarpone and THEN wrap the prosciutto around and bake them for a short while, they would be divine.

Adieu Figs, until next year!! :)

"Tin" on the left, "Farkizzan" on the right.
The next seasonal thing i'll be looking forward to is delicious dark English spinach... mmm just a couple more months! :)  Then Autumn will be upon us, the time of pumpkins, and delicious root veggies, nuts, oranges and spices :)

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