Of all the fruits grown in the UK, the fig always strikes us as the most exotic. Pear-shaped and squat, what they lack in juiciness, they make up for with their fleshy delights and a subtle, sweet taste and smell. Go for the plumpest you can find, keep them at room temperature and do consume them within a day or two; it is not a fruit with a long shelf life, so don’t hold back and do devour immediately. We love the fact that they work beautifully with salty flavours as well as sweet ones, making the fig as versatile as it is delicate.

Try one of these recipes now, just as fig season hits its stride.

Fig And Goats’ Cheese Tranche


Delicious
Fig And Goat

Simple and ideal for sharing, this late summer tart brings out the fig’s natural sweetness with honey and then marries that flavour with the creaminess of the goats’ cheese, cutting through both with a little aromatic chopped rosemary. Picnic perfection. Find the recipe here.


Crostini – Prosciutto, Fig And Mint


Jamie Oliver
Crostini - Prosciutto, Figs And Mint

Crostini are always a good idea since you can pack a surprising lot of flavour into a tiny bite. This recipe, which combines the sweet fig with the salty prosciutto and the fresh mint, packs a punch – all brought together beautifully atop a lovely, crisp crostini. The perfect thing for a summer soirée on the lawn. Find the recipe here.


Figs Baked In Honey, Lemon And Cinnamon


Riverford
FIGS BAKED IN HONEY, LEMON AND CINNAMON

The simple recipes are always the best. Riverford suggests baking two or three – or more depending on how hungry you are or how large the hoards you are feeding – in lemon, cinnamon and honey for a joyful and delicious start to the day. Wolf them down alone or with some creamy Greek yogurt. Find the recipe here.


Fig And Raspberry Crumble Cake


BBC Good Food
Fig & Raspberry Crumble Cake

Crumble, cake and figs: this easy-to-make beauty combines three of our favourite things. The ground and flaked almonds work so well with the figs, while the yogurt lends a pleasing creaminess. A great way to shake up one of our kitchen classics – and to take us through from late summer into early autumn, culinarily speaking. Find the recipe here.


Sticky Fig And Caramel Pudding


Delicious
Sticky Fig And Caramel Pudding

If you have, by now, got a taste for fig-based puds, don’t stop before you’ve given this decadent thing of delight a whirl. A sponge which sits in an absurdly indulgent pool of caramel, it is moist, moreish and best served with tart crème fraiche, although we wouldn’t hold it against you if you went for vanilla ice-cream instead. Find the recipe here.

By Nancy Alsop
August 2023