How Excited Were We....

How excited were we when we saw this beauty.  Initially it was sitting in our fig tree but moved into the nearby wattles when we arrived.  

                                                

It is a Boobook owl.  We hear them often at nighttime, but we've never been lucky enough to see one.  They have a distinctive hoot and are often called mopokes because of their sound.  We're really hopeful the fact that it was around during the day, and didn't fly away completely when we turned up, means it was just too stuffed with figs to move and not that it was unwell. 

Still excited!! 

Figs, Figs and More Figs

This year we've had an abundance of figs on our trees which, much to our surprise, the birds haven't discovered.  We both love figs.  But there's only so many figs two humans (with the help of three cows and a small number of birds) can reasonably eat without turning into a fig.  We stopped weighing the figs we picked when we got to 23 kilos.  We gave away many kilos of figs and then set about doing something with the rest.  This included drying the figs, wrapping them in prosciutto and grilling them (those were seriously delicious and are highly recommended) and making jam and chutney.   I also discovered a fabulous recipe for a Fig and Raspberry Crumble Cake which I made to share with my lovely sister and her family when they were moving into their new home.  My mother-in-law was lucky enough to score one as well.  Which made R doubly happy because he got to have a share of both. 

The first few figs were picked from the tree we planted last year.   I'm always so excited with the first fruit off any of our trees.  We ate several straight from the tree.  I don't know what it is about eating a piece of fruit straight after it's picked that makes it taste so much better than one eaten an hour or so after picking.  But it's true for all the fruit trees we have.

This is the first basket we picked from the tree near the bottom paddock.  This is what 8 kilos of figs look like.  R decided to throw the damaged fruit to the cows in the paddock.  Turns out they love figs, more than plastic even. Every time we went anywhere near the fig tree they would rush over and start mooing at us, demanding their share.  I'm pretty sure if there wasn't a fence between them and the tree they'd have eaten the whole lot. Probably all at the same time.  Imagine the stomach aches from that!!

These figs were turned into fig and ginger jam.  Figs are probably one of the easiest fruit to turn into jam. They require very little effort.  All I did was chop off the stems and then cut the figs into halves.

Then I added sugar, finely chopped ginger (I used Buderim's Bare Naked Ginger), some lemon juice and rinds, water and stirred until the sugar dissolved. 

Then I brought it up to the boil (isn't the foam a glorious colour) then turned down the heat and let it simmer for half an hour or so.

Eventually it got jammy enough to put into sterilised jars.  They were labelled and R has already hidden them so I can't give them away.  Anybody would think there will never be another jar of fig jam made in this house again. Honestly!! 

Drying figs is just as easy.  Once the stems have been cut off and the figs halved, it's just a matter of spreading them on the drying trays. I'm lucky enough to have a Sunbeam Ezidry and, following their instructions, I set the temperature to 55 degrees celcius and let it do its thing.

The figs in this pic have been drying for about 8 hours.  They took about 24 hours to be fully dried.  We did some for a shorter time so they're softer. Those we keep in the fridge.  We also soaked some in sugar syrup overnight before drying them.  I read that gives the figs a much softer finish, which it does but they don't taste as nice.  Drying really intensifies the flavour of the fruit.  I'm looking forward to using the dried figs in my next batch of homemade muesli. 

The Fig and Raspberry Crumble Cake (Fig & raspberry crumble cake recipe | Good Food) was probably R's favourite thing to do with the figs.  We also used raspberries from our garden. It is very satisfying being able to make things from produce we've grown.

Anyway, what makes this cake so good is the layers of fruit.  Some of the figs are chopped up small, and along with a third of the raspberries, added to the cake batter.  Once the batter is in the tin, a layer of halved figs and more raspberries goes on top.

On top of that goes the crumble and .....

Another layer of raspberries.

I was really surprised that the raspberries kept their shape during the cooking process.  The end result is a lovely, fruity but not too sweet cake.  Perfect with cream (or ice-cream in R's case) and a cup of good coffee or tea. 

We're still picking figs.  I'll be kind of glad when there aren't any more to pick.  Although I bet I will still pull a sad face when the last fig comes off the tree.  

I wonder what we'll be picking next.  I predict quinces closely followed by apples.