Recipes Compiled by Jerry M. Parsons, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture

About Figs
When Cato advocated the conquest of Carthage, he used as his crowning argument the advantage of acquiring fruits as glorious as the North African figs, specimens of which he pulled from his toga as exhibits in the Roman Senate. These fruits have become so popular in America that many varieties (purplish, brownish and greenish) are grown in profusion. Even when shipped, they must be tree ripened.

Fresh figs are very different from the dried ones we get from Smyrna and our South. They are ripe when soft to the touch and overripe when sour in odor, indicating a fermentation of the juice.