Figs Didn't Ripen? Try These Unripe Fig Recipes and Uses
Did your fig tree drop its leaves for winter…but is still loaded with unripe figs? Here are unripe fig recipes and other ideas for getting the most from your fig tree.
Unripe Figs Every Fall
It’s a frustrating sight for a cold-climate fig grower: A naked fig tree loaded with unripe figs.
As a fig tree goes dormant and drops all its leaves, the unripe figs remain—all the more noticeable because the tree is leafless.
Think of all the figs you didn’t get to eat…
(I won’t use the term “green figs” to refer to unripe figs—because there are lots of fig varieties that are green when they’re ripe.)
Once a fig tree is dormant, the unripe figs won’t ripen any more. Don’t leave them over the winter and hope they’ll ripen next year. They won’t.
But there are things you can do with unripe figs, and this article gives you an unripe fig recipe and more ideas.
How to Have Fewer Unripe Figs in the Fall
There are 7 things I recommend so that you have more ripe—and fewer unripe—figs in the fall.
Here are my tips to boost your fig harvest.
Unripe Fig Recipe
Grilled Unripe Figs
Recipe for unripe figs using “almost-ripe” figs that are a good size and starting to soften…but are not too sweet.
Here’s a recipe from my fig-growing friend Alberto. He says to use “almost-ripe” figs in this recipe.
These almost-ripe figs are ones you might be tempted not to eat because although they’ve reached a good size, and softened a bit…they’re not soft, and not very sweet.
Alberto grills these unripe figs on the barbecue. I cook mine in the oven in a baking dish. Both work well.
Here’s what to do:
Put the almost-ripe figs directly on the grill, or on foil (or a cookie sheet or baking dish if you’re cooking them in the oven)
Cook until they become soft and the inside starts to ooze out
Place in a dish and allow to cool
Mix with cinnamon, pine nuts, oregano, honey, and a touch of balsamic vinegar
Enjoy!
You’ll see that there are no amounts for the other ingredients—add them to suit your taste.
Alberto introduced me to his “door” method of overwintering figs.
Get Your Fig Trees Through Winter
And eat fresh homegrown figs!
Preserves with Unripe Figs
My friend Voula told me that her family in Greece makes “spoon sweets” using unripe figs.
Spoon sweets are unripe figs are cooked in syrup until soft.
I’ve never tried this—so I don’t have a recipe for you. But you’ll find recipes online.
Don’t Waste Dormant Branches You Prune Off
This flower arrangement, picked from the garden after it’s had frost, includes unripe figs on branches, a cardoon leaf, broom corn (sorghum), and stonecrop sedum.
Here in Toronto, I grow some of my fig trees in the ground. I lay the trees flat to the ground over the winter and insulate them. Find out more about how to overwinter fig trees in cold climates.
Before I tip over my fig trees, I prune back some of the taller branches (so that there’s less tree for me to cover.)
Flower Arrangements with Unripe Figs
When I prune off branches with unripe figs on them, I use them in flower arrangements. Thanks to Joanna at Arthur Greenhouses for this idea. She told me that she saw it when she worked in the cut-flower industry.
Fig Branches for Smoking Food
I usually smoke meat using apple, cherry, or plum wood. All of these fruit woods have a nice flavour, suited to smoking food.
Fig wood has a taste and smell that is very distinct from these other fruit woods. If ever I put a fig branch on the bonfire, I can smell it right away. It’s recognizable—and it’s nice.
Interested in smoking food? Here’s how I cook a turkey on a charcoal barbecue, and use branches to add a smoke flavour.
Fig Branches for Cuttings
Of course, some of the fig branches I prune end up as cuttings.
Find out how to grow fig plants from cuttings.
Other Cool Culinary Uses for Figs
Pin this post.
Fig Sap as a Coagulant
Fig sap can coagulate milk. I chatted with someone once who described a yogurt like food that his family makes in Greece, using fig sap to coagulate milk.
Flavouring Food with Fig Leaves
Fig leaves have a flavour I’d describe as a combination of coconut and toasted almond.
The leaf is not eaten—rather, the flavour is extracted from it.
Toronto chef David Salt introduced me to the culinary joys of fig leaves. I’ve sampled his fig-leaf cheese, fig-leaf ice cream—and fig-leaf grappa!
Here’s a delicious fig-leaf panna cotta recipe.
Find out more about using fig leaves in cooking.
(If you’re interested in cooking with fig leaves but don’t have time to do it in the fall, freeze some fig leaves.)
More on Growing Figs in Cold Climates
Articles and Interviews
The Fig Masterclass
Fig Books
Fig-Leaf Syrup Recipe
Capture the sweet smell of fig leaves with the fig-leaf syrup recipe.
The Flavour of Fig Leaves
Working in the garden next to my fig trees on a hot summer day, I often get wafts of a sweet, delicious smell.
It's the smell of fig leaves.
Often overlooked, those sweet-smelling fresh fig leaves can be used in many recipes. It's just one more reason to grow a fig tree!
When using fig leaves in cooking, the leaves are discarded once the flavour is pulled out of them.
I like to use fresh fig leaves. Some people use dried fig leaves to make fig-leaf tea. And if you want to enjoy fig leaves over the winter, just freeze some. I freeze fig leaves by stacking a few of them and then placing them in a freezer bag.
Keep reading to find out more about using figs leaves in cooking, and for a simple fig-leaf syrup recipe.
How to Use Fig Leaves
Here are a few ways to use fig leaves:
Fig-leaf ice cream
Fig-leaf granita
Fig-leaf panna cotta (a favourite in my family!)
Here's the recipe for fig-leaf panna cotta.
Here's a chef making fig-leaf grappa and fig-leaf cheese.
What do Fig Leaves Taste Like?
I describe fig leaves as having a flavour that combines toasted almond, coconut—and touch of herbaceous.
The fig-leaf flavour works well in desserts. The fig-leaf flavour also pairs nicely with savoury dishes. (I once had partridge served with a fig-leaf glaze!)
Find out how chef David Salt uses fig leaves.
Fig Leaf Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
4 fig leaves (fresh leaves in the summer, or frozen leaves in the winter)
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
500 mL water
Directions
Place fig leaves flat in a heat-proof bowl
Put sugar and water in saucepan and bring to a boil until sugar dissolves to make a sugar syrup
Pour the hot liquid over the fig leaves
Allow to steep until it cools to room temperature
Refrigerate overnight
Remove leaves and it's ready to use
What is fig syrup good for?
The delicate flavour of fig leaves pairs nicely with fruit such as strawberries and blueberries. But fig leaves also go well in savoury dishes, so try some fig-leaf syrup drizzled atop poultry or fish.
Looking for More Fig Information?
Grow Figs in Cold Climates - The Masterclass
Get Your Fig Trees Through Winter
And eat fresh homegrown figs!
Books on Growing Figs in Cold Climates
Fig Leaves in the Kitchen
By Steven Biggs
Fig Leaf Ice Cream
It starts with an e-mail. The subject line reads, “fig leaves.”
Expecting the usual early-fall question about fig rust, I am surprised when I open the e-mail and read:
“I am looking for fig leaves to make dishes with at my restaurant (fig-leaf ice cream, jelly, savoury sauces, custards etc.) Is there any possibility of getting some from you, before they fall for the winter?”
Sweet Smell of Fig Leaves
I have never tasted anything made using fig leaves. But right away I think of the sweet, slightly earthy, coconut-like smell that wafts over from the figs trees in my garden on a hot day.
So it was that Chef David Salt drops by my garden for some fig leaves in early October, before they get nipped by frost. He tells me that when he was a chef in London, England, he knew where to go for fig leaves. But here in Toronto, he hasn’t been able to find a supply…until now.
He fills a couple of bags with fig leaves, which he will freeze until he is ready to use them. Then we agree that I’ll drop by the restaurant some time to taste his fig-leaf creations.
Get Your Fig Trees Through Winter
And eat fresh homegrown figs!
Tasting Fig-Leaf Dishes
I stop in at the restaurant a couple of weeks later to try a fig-leaf grappa, a fig cheese, and a fig-leaf ice cream.
Fig-Leaf Ice Cream
Cooking with fig leaves
David explains that this light coloured ice cream is made with the extract from steeped fig leaves. It’s lucky that I have come when I do, because there is only a little bit left in the container. At first I don’t taste the fig leaves, but then, slowly, a gentle fig-leaf flavour comes through at the back of my mouth.
David finds the fig-leaf flavour goes well with something sweet; I agree.
Fig-Leaf Cheese
While I’m tasting the ice cream, Sous Chefs Udit and Mandar go to get a ball of fig-leaf cheese, and then peel back the cheese cloth so that we can all taste it.
David’s fig-leaf cheese, while unintentional, is delicious. I tell David that I have heard of fig sap being used to make a yogurt-like dairy product and as a rennet substitute for making cheese.
Chef David Salt. The fig-leaf ice cream was a hit.
This ball of cheese is sweet because it was originally intended to be a batch of ice cream. As David made a batch of fig-leaf ice cream, it split on him—so he strained the curds to make this fig-leaf cheese.
Fig-Leaf Grappa
I can’t drink too much of the fig-leaf grappa as I am on my way to teach a college class. Pity. David says it was an incredible green infusion when they first made it, but the colour faded within a day. I don’t smell anything, and I don’t taste the fig leaves at first. But a moment later, the fig-leaf flavour comes through—again, at the back of my mouth. It’s a flavour that lasts, so I continue to enjoy it as I walk to class.
But What About…
If you grow figs, you’re thinking as you read this that they don’t always smell nice.
I find that in the fall, as fig trees drop their leaves and go dormant, there can be a strong smell, which some people describe as cat pee. (The other time I’ve encountered that smell is when I leave fig plants in my car for too long on a hot day.)
David got those leaves early enough that there was only the sweet, slightly earthy, coconut-like smell that wafts over from my figs trees on a hot day.
FAQ Fig-Leaves
Can you eat fig leaves?
You don’t actually eat the leaf, but extract the flavour from the leaf (as in a syrup or panna cotta) or use the leaf to flavour a dish (as in meat wrapped and cooked in a fig leaf.)
Can you make fig-leaf tea?
Some people dry fig leaves for use in teas.
More About Figs and Fig Trees
Articles and Interviews
Online Fig Masterclass
Get Your Fig Trees Through Winter
And eat fresh homegrown figs!
Hi, We’re Steve and Emma!
We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard.
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