Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Our Beautiful Fig Tree

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El Higuero

The little stick we stuck in the ground has grown into a large, beautiful and very productive fig tree. Small green nubs grow into a profusion of fruit. Our mouths begin to water as we watch for it to ripen. The figs seductively plump out and then turn a deep purple color. We palpate their curves gently with our fingers. The trick is to beat the ever vigilant birds. We race to see who gets the ripe ones first. It is a let-down to go to that fat fig of yesterday that was almost ready and find that today, just as we thought, it is perfect—and now full of holes. The early bird gets the fig?

Glen came up with a good idea. He searched on the internet for a recipe to make preserves from green (unripe) figs and yesterday made five pounds of these into preserves. Very tasty! And there is still an abundance of fruit on the tree for which we will compete as the figs ripen.

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Making Citrus Marmelade

Life is Sweet

Palate Pleasing Papaya