FIGS are my favorite Louisiana Fruit...Cajuns eat lots of figs - green bowls of them in the deep summer...here is one recipe to preserve them...where they will bring that hot sweet to your mouth in the winter chill on the bayous.....

LOUISIANA FIGS

The edible Figs of Louisiana are Delicious all by themselves. If you pick a lot of them in late June or early July, you get too many in a short time...a great way to 'set them by' is to preserve them as a syrup, that Cajuns love especially over biscuits, pancakes, and even plain cakes. They're a purple-brown color, pear or onion shaped, and a little leathery on the outside when mature. they can be up to two inches big...you gotta wear cotton gloves when picking them, because of their white 'sap' from the broken stem - it can really irritate the skin...they're harvested for four or five weeks, so you're likely to have a lot of em - unless the birds get to them first!

For making the Syrup to preserve them, you cut them up and clean up any old or touch areas or skin that's thick and wash them and drain a bit...cook them on low heat with their own sugars and a dash or so of corn syrup, stirring often...when they're really very soft, puree them in batches...in a heavy pan, pour in about a full cup and a half of the pureed figs, one cup white sugar, a scant teaspoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of cinnamon...bring it all to a full rolling boil and boil, stirring the whole time, for one more minute. Stir in a pat of butter...spoon into a few scalded canning jars, and seal...you can make the batches as big as you want, increasing the ratios as needed...it takes a lot of stirring to prevent big batches from sticking or burning, though...so just making several smaller batches works out much better....



Here's the Poem for LOUISIANA FIGS:

Everything blooms in Louisiana Sweet
Sweet and hot and bursting with full purple, gold
I've sat in the shade of this Magnolia Tree and been hot
Too hot to do more then to eat this Richness
This sweet angel of a Fruit from a tree rainin' 'em down
Down to this bench in this Heart of this French Quarter
Where the shutters are closed and still and the
Deep purple Figs stain this white bench stone deep, deep
Down through the purple-golds of this Louisiana Dusk.....