Figs, Figs and More Figs!

   It seems as if it is a good year for figs.  The two large trees and four small ones are loaded with the fruit.  Perhaps the rains this summer or perhaps my haphazardly pruning did the trick but I have been picking figs for the past two weeks.  By picking...I mean PICKING and picking and picking.  Gallons of the things have made their way into the kitchen and that does not count the ones that the bayou critters are eating.  At night the coons, possums and fox are all dining and during the daytime, birds, squirrels and grasshoppers (yes, those eastern lubber grasshoppers) are eating my figs! I pick twice daily...at dawn then again at dusk.  I am tired of picking but realize that figs, too, are a blessing so I am appreciative.  But...what do you do with tons of figs?  Back a month ago, I had several people begging for the fruit.  I was happy to find someone who wanted figs and was so willing to share.  I was even going so far as to pick the figs for them but, now that they are ripe, those same people are "too busy". 

 

  So, I started canning figs.  Fig jam and fig preserves are being jarred on a daily basis.  This was quite an undertaking simply due to the number of figs.  Jar after jar was home-canned but I still had more figs than I was able to do.  Hmmm?  Fig cobbler?  Yep, fig cobbler.  I had a hankering for cobbler so I gave it a whirl and found it is simple yet delicious!  A touch of cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice spiced it right nicely.  The house smelled divine but, better yet, the warm cobbler couldn't have been tastier!  Now I know what I shall be doing with the seventy or so jars of figs!  Come this winter, fig cobbler will become an often thing.  Good, ole comfort food, folks!  Think outside the box and make a cobbler!