Fichi

My first experience with figs was in 2003 when I was presented with a 5 gallon vat of (what I perceived as) foul, wrinkled, pickled, yellowish, mushy, and all together unpleasant fruit. Along with the vat, I was given instructions to slice them into quarters and then go and peel approximately 900 piece of slimy slippery ginger. I was in college and my diet of Annie's Mac and Cheese and Magic Hat #9 had not lent itself to an appreciation of "fig and ginger jam" (goes well with goat cheese!), so I vowed I would never eat figs again.

And then I moved to Italy where they have the most amazing selection of seasonal fruit. The quality of produce here is beyond belief-- tomatoes taste like candy, peaches are mind-bendingly good-- watermelon is consumed for dessert, and the reason-- no one seems to import out of season produce. There are no artichokes in June. Your loquats can only be found in the late spring-- markets and menus change according to what's ripe. How novel!

This summer I fell in love with prosciutto and melone and the end of cantaloupe season was sad-- what sweet fruit could possibly take its place?

Turns out-- figs.
I revise all previous statements on figs-- they're crunchy and sweet and soft and work really well with prosciutto.

They're also filled with wasps... but we'll overlook that for now.

I was so pleased with the fichi, I decided to branch out and try the Fichi d'India-- In English we call these prickly pears-- our name addresses the hazards associated with consuming spined fruit. Their name does not. Naming aside, I was under the impression they clean off all the needles before they sell them in the supermarket-- goring shoppers is never good for business, right? The invisible ones stuck in my thumb speak to my naive American attitudes. And though they are a gorgeous purple color, they a) accosted me and b) do not go well with prosciutto
so farewell Fichi d'India-- the remaining two will stay in this bag, and here's hoping they go out of season very soon.