Fig - Description
Figs - a high deciduous tree, with delicious, very sweet fruits, similar to a small pear, with many small seeds inside. It is believed that the more seeds the fruit contains, the tastier it is. Its thin peel is covered with small villi. The color of the fruit, depending on the variety, can be purple, black, greenish, yellow. As soon as the figs are not called - both the fig tree, and the wine berry, and the fig tree, and in Latin it generally sounds like a ficus, Ficus carica.
Figs - a tree is very ancient. According to legend, the fig leaf was the only clothing of the first people on earth - Adam and Eve. Asia is considered his homeland. Ancient figs began to cultivate a fig tree a very long time ago. From where it began to gradually spread throughout the world, the baton was picked up by Syria, Egypt, Phenicia and other countries with a warm climate. Nowadays, figs grow in the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea, Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Mediterranean countries, and the Middle East.
Fig tree is quite unpretentious. It grows on the soil depleted of useful substances - rocky shores, stones, stone walls. But, because this plant is hygrophilous, the most powerful trees grow in river valleys, and where you can provide them with good water supply. Figs are a long-liver, many trees live for two hundred years without ceasing to bear fruit.
In the northern regions, this plant can be grown in pots, like a houseplant. Propagate it by cuttings. Even at home, it is able to produce crops.
Figs - useful properties
The fruits of figs contain vitamins of groups B, C, PP, A. It is rich in potassium, which has a very positive effect on the functioning of the heart muscle and soft tissues of the whole body, prevents fatigue, and removes excess fluid. Therefore, wine berry is useful for edema, cardiovascular disease, with intense mental or physical labor. Iron contained in fruits strengthens the immune system, has a positive effect on hematopoiesis, therefore, berries are recommended to be included in the diet for blood loss, skin diseases, suffering from iron deficiency anemia. Figs are a natural antipyretic and diaphoretic. To lower the temperature, just eat a few fresh berries. Also, fig fruits are a repository of phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, amino acids, pectin, omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.
Unfortunately, such a useful berry is not recommended for everyone. Figs contain a lot of fiber, oxalic acid, so it should not be consumed in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (in acute form) and gout, dried fruits (dried fruits) are contraindicated in diabetes.
Figs - Calories
Calorie content of 100 g of fresh figs is 70 kcal, dried (dried fruits) - 214 kcal.
Figs - use in cooking
Figs are used in cooking in dried, dried and fresh form for the preparation of desserts, pastries, sorbets and other sweet dishes. Syrups are made from fresh fruits, jam, jam, jam.
But it is used not only for sweets, fish and meat are cooked with it. Especially with wine berries gourmets like to experiment. Figs are stuffed with poultry, meat rolls, cheese is baked with them. He shares his sweetness, endowing dishes with sophistication and piquancy - gives a special flavor to smoked meat, gently sets off the saltiness of ham or bacon. From figs you can cook a rather original side dish for baked poultry or pork meat - you just need to slightly let the berries in honey and sprinkle with black pepper. Any cheese, especially with mold or brackish goat cheese, goes well with wine berries, if they are baked in a grill or oven.
Examples of recipes with figs
Recipe 1: Pork with Figs
This dish is for real gourmets and ordinary lovers to eat tasty food. The taste of meat with a beautiful appetizing crust of bacon is simply amazing. Originality and piquancy are given to it by figs and sweet soy sauce. For cooking, you need an oblong piece of meat, ideally a tenderloin, inside of which chopped figs with nuts are placed.
Ingredients: 600-800g of pork tenderloin, 100g of figs (dried fruit), 50g of nuts (a handful of cashews or walnuts), 5 tablespoons. sweet soy sauce, salt, 150g of bacon.
Cooking method
Pour the tenderloin with soy sauce and leave for marinating for an hour. While pork is infused, prepare the filling.
Grind figs with a knife. Put the nuts in a bag or towel and beat with a rolling pin.
Cut the bacon into thin slices.
On a piece of meat along the entire length, make a longitudinal section, so that a pocket for filling is obtained, i.e. cut the meat deeper, but not completely. Lay nut-nut stuffing inside this cut, having rolled a sausage from it. Pork a little salt. It’s not worth zealous because the bacon is already salty.
Combine the cut edges of the meat and cover the resulting roll with slices of bacon, while wrapping them with thread to hold.
Put the meat in a form, pour over soy sauce and bake for about an hour (220С). Periodically, the roll will need to be watered with the resulting juice, then it will not be dry and will acquire a ruddy glossy crust. Cool the finished meat a little, remove the threads and cut into slices.
As an option, it is possible to make not one big roll, but to cut longitudinal pieces, as into chops, and wrap small rolls. Then in time they will need to bake less.
Recipe 2: Chicken Baked with Figs
An unusual chicken with figs will appeal to many. It has a rather unusual, but pleasant taste, something similar to the taste of chicken with honey and a very beautiful ruddy crust. A carcass weighing up to 1.5 kg is being prepared - about one hour. The meat is very tender and aromatic. Figs become soft during cooking, it can be served on the side dish, lightly sprinkled with pepper.
Ingredients: 1 chicken (1.5kg), 10 pieces of figs (dried fruits), salt, French (Italian) herbs, 1 clove of garlic.
Cooking method
Pour the figs with boiling water and let it brew until the water cools.
Cut the carcass along the breast and flatten as for chicken tobacco. Grate the chicken with salt, herbs or seasonings as you wish, crushed with garlic and let it marinate for fifteen minutes.
Sprinkle a form or baking sheet with oil and lay the figs in tight rows in a circle shape. Place the chicken carcass on the berries, trying so that it does not come into contact with the baking sheet, but lies completely on the fig pillow. Pour a glass of water and bake for about an hour until fully cooked (180C). After forty minutes, begin to water the carcass with the resulting juice every five minutes. Figs secrete a lot of sugar, which, caramelized, gives the skin a very beautiful ruddy color.
Recipe 3: Fig Pie
The recipe for a fairly simple but tasty cake is a cake. It is prepared on the basis of extra virgin olive oil, then the cake acquires a delicate olive aroma. You can take the usual vegetable, just the cupcake will taste more simple, without the olive “zest”. And one more secret - the more figs, the tastier.
Ingredients: 300 g of figs (dried, dried), half a glass of olive oil and milk, 250 g of flour, 1 large egg, a pinch of salt, an incomplete teaspoon. baking powder, 150 g of sugar, fresh zest of 1 lemon.
Cooking method
Cook the food - cut the figs into small slices, grate the zest finely.
Mix flour with sugar, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, milk, butter and an egg. Pour the liquid mixture into flour and knead the dough with a whisk.
Mix the mass with figs and lemon zest, pour it into a mold and bake for about forty-forty-five minutes (180C). Pre-lubricate the mold with oil. The optimum diameter of the form is twenty-two centimeters.
Figs - tips from experienced chefs
- To make figs easier to cut, the knife blade must be lowered into hot water, and the fruit should be kept in the refrigerator for about an hour - it will not be so sticky.
- Fig is a perishable berry, therefore it should be stored in the cold, for a maximum of three days.
- Figs should be consumed on an empty stomach - so it will bring more benefits.
- Peeled fruits should not be kept in a warm place, otherwise they will simply wander and deteriorate.
- So that the nutrients of dried figs are better absorbed, they should be soaked for half an hour in cold water before use.
- From fresh berries of figs you can prepare a hearty and quick snack - cut the fruit in half and stuff the pulp with raw walnuts or cashew nuts. Or pour each half with honey, put a teaspoon of soft cheese or fat sour cream on top and bake for five minutes in the oven.
