italian fig trees | ficus carica

Selling Fig Trees at Farmers Markets

FiG — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:31:08 +0000

We are going to be at the Flemington Farmers Market this coming Sunday, July 20th, 2008, from 9 until Noon. We are looking forward to meeting you there.

from the Garden Plate (April-May 2007)

FiG — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 17:38:14 +0000

page 2

A local foodie magazine recently contacted us for photos & information on growing fig trees in our area, and the issue was just recently published…we’re sharing a little bit of it here.

You can contact the Garden Plate, or go to their website, if you’re looking to get an issue.

Email Question: keeping ants away from figs

Administrator — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 13:21:01 +0000

Since it’s fruiting season, this email from our files is especially relevant. Anyone who’s ever seen ants happily crawling in and out of their ripening fruit knows how irritating this is.

Albert writes:

Dear Italian fig trees,

Ants are attacking my figs as they ripen. What can I do? Any help will be appreciated.

Albert

Dear Albert,

Try “Tree Tanglefoot”* to trap the ants before they get to the figs.

(* “Tree Tanglefoot” is an organic sticky compound of castor oil and natural waxes, that you apply as a barrier ring to keep climbing pests from getting access. It’s widely available.)

Email Question: moving a planted fig tree

Tina — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 18:20:06 +0000

A recent email question, sent in by Lisa

I WANTED TO KNOW WHEN IS THE BEST PLACE TO MOVE & PLANT A FIG TREE, FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, & THE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT. THANK YOU

LISA

Hi Lisa:

The only good time to move a fig tree is when it is dormant. The best time for you would be very early in the spring, when the tree is still in the dormant stage. Dig a hole in advance in the spot you have chosen to move it to, try to get as much of the roots as possible, and plant the tree as soon as possible.

All this is assuming that the tree is relatively small. A large tree can only be safely moved by a professional.

Farmer’s Market

Tina — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 18:14:28 +0000

Dad asked me to post that he’s out of transportable stock for the Farmers’ Market, so he’s not going to be going there for the remainder of the season. This also means he’ll be here on Saturday mornings, if you need to ask him questions or get a tree.

Cucidati?

Tina — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 18:04:48 +0000

We got an email from Amy, who is looking for a recipe for cuccidadas, (or possibly cuchidahti, or cuddureddi, or even cucidati the spelling varies a lot.)

Hi,
Since you know a lot about Italian fig trees and such, I was curious if you knew of an
Italian fig cookie recipe? Or if not, at the very least, would you
happen to know where I can find good fresh figs in New York City?

Amy (NYC)

Hi Amy,
There are some recipe links out there, if you flex the spelling of the name a little, so I’ve posted them for you, but I wasn’t familiar with it myself.
Here’s what we found:
Sicilian Fig Cookies
Italiancook.com
Inmamaskitchen.com

As for the fresh figs, you may try the Union Square Green Market, but it’s hard for us to know: we’re around 60 miles from NYC…and as you may imagine, we never have to go out looking for fresh figs!
Thanks for your questions!
Tina

High Bridge Open Air Market, Saturdays 8:30 - 12:30

FiG — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 13:27:10 +0000

From June 24th to September 2nd, I’ll be at the Open Air Market in High Bridge with trees for sale. If you have any questions about what kind of trees we’ll be selling, just give us a call: (908) 832-7770.

If you need more information about the market, here’s their website: http://www.highbridge.org/events.html#High_Bridge_Open_Air_Market

Note to all: I’ve moved comments to the FAQs section, since they didn’t have anything to do with this topic. Please post your comment to the appropriate section (FAQs, winter care, etc.), so that the conversation is easy for all to follow. And as always, if you are trying to email Al, don’t leave your question as a comment. Send an email to: al@italianfigtrees.com. Thanks!

Recommended recipes

Tina — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 17:00:13 +0000

Because fig recipes are still pretty hard to find, I added some Amazon links to cookbooks to the site’s menu (waaay down on the right side), and I’d like to recommend a couple of recipes from each book.

A note on making preserves:

Figs are often a bit bland and sweet, when made into jam. To counteract this, the use of lemon, ginger, sesame seeds, strawberries, or other acid or bright/strong notes round out the flavor.

About the recipes: If you have your own fig recipes (dried or fresh) and want to share them on italianfigtrees.com, please email my dad, Al. If we get enough, we may start a recipe section for the site.

Fig Heaven by Marie Simmons

You can go hog-wild with the recipes in this book, and it’s an enjoyable read as well.

It’s hard to narrow the recommendation down to just a few, but I’ll try:

Grilled fresh figs on rosemary skewers, p.29

Warm fresh fig salad with comte cheese and black forest ham, p.49

Fresh fig galette, p.103

From The Land of Figs and Olives by Habeeb Salloum and James Peters
(Note: this is not a “fig cookbook”, but a Middle Eastern one that has a good fig jam recipe.)

Fig Jam, p.219
Recipe includes pine nuts, fennel seeds, cloves, and sesame seeds…you can leave out the fennel seeds, but try to make it with the pine nuts, if you have them.

Interesting article on NPR website

FiG — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 23:39:00 +0000

Our daughter heard an NPR story about the possible earliest known cultivated crops: figs! They were found in the ruins of an 11,400-year-old house, if you can imagine that. So, all you fig growers out there: we’re in good company.
Read the article on NPR’s website here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5446137

New Site Feature

Administrator — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:18:19 +0000

We’ve imported our Flickr.com photo albums so you can see our photos without leaving…the added bonus for us is that we can see and display your comments from Flickr, right here, so WE don’t have to leave the site!
By the way, feel free to post your comments about the photos on Flickr…we enjoy reading them. We will answer all your questions about fig trees, as soon as possible, but we don’t always see the questions sent via a comment. The best way to ask a question is to click “Contact” above, and send us your question that way.

Thanks!