What’s the Fig Deal? Figs, Fizz, and a Fab New Adventure

Greetings, bubble lovers!

Things have been busy on a personal front over here in #BubbleistaLand. One of the biggest changes is that Mr. Bubbleista and I recently moved into a lovely, updated 1960’s abode that was absolutely built for entertaining {perfect for a effervescent-lifestyle living Bubbleista!}.

Housed on a corner lot at the beginning of a quiet cul-de-sac, it was one of those situations where it was house love at first sight. Some of the features of the house that captured my heart were its gorgeous and unique original hardwoods; ceiling beams in the family room; a cute gazebo on the side yard perfect for hanging out in; and a ton of windows that stream in sunlight all day long.

It’s been something of an adventure starting a new chapter together here, and there are lots of little things we’re taking pleasure in still discovering about our house {like I think there might be more original hardwood under the carpet in 2 of the bedrooms!}; our neighbors; and our sweet little neighborhood.

In fact, the sweetness quotient in my phrase “sweet little neighborhood” rose dramatically in my book when I made recent, delightful discovery involving one of the neighbor’s pretty trees that happens to partially hang over our fence into our yard.

I’d noticed the tree right away because I strategically placed our couch near the large almost floor-to-ceiling windows in our family room which allows for looking out at all of the mature trees and nature that surrounds the house.

It was while sitting on said couch working on my laptop one day, when out of the corner of my eyes I picked up on some unusually vigorous activity. When I leaned forward to get a better look, I noticed a whole crew of “woodland creatures”–birds and squirrels–hanging out in this specific tree. Being one who doesn’t like missing out on what looks like a good party, I decided I needed to investigate.

As I got closer the little critters scattered of course, but I ventured towards the tree anyway. I got right along side the fence; looked up; and saw these green globes hanging from the branches.

Lo and behold–they were FIGS!

I immediately plucked a few {only those on our side of the fence, of course…maybe} from the branches. They were soft and sweetly fragrant and sticky. They weren’t perfect-looking like the ones you see at the market, but they were lovely in their own right.

I took them inside; rinsed them off; and cut into one to see what it looked–and tasted–like.

BEAUTIFUL. PERFECTION.

The figs were sweet but not sugary–they were delicate in flavor. The flesh was so delightfully aromatic that it was almost intoxicating.

After I was done indulging in my impromptu fig feast, I decided to do a little research on the internestsss to see if I could discover which fig variety they were. After a bit of reading and image comparisons, I determined that they were most likely Sierra figs.

The more I read about the them, the more the gears in my creative brain began to turn. Before I knew it I was brainstorming and creating my own special brand of culinary and concoction ideas in order to experiment with my newfound figgy friends.

I ended up coming up with 3 recipe ideas right off the jump, but I thought to start that I’d keep things simple.

Simple syrup, that is.

My first recipe is for a Fig Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup that I knocked my own socks off with.

I admit that I originally got this idea because, as per usual, I wanted to created some champagne-y, boozy cocktails, but I discovered that the syrup works for so many other things! You can

• drizzle it over ice cream, pound cake, or waffles {I love how the syrup pools in the waffle’s crevices}
• use it to give your iced tea or lemonade a sweet and distinctive kick {you can even combine them and make a Fig Arnold Palmer!}
• Use it  as a glaze for carrots, butternut squash, beets, and other sweet root vegetables

Now that you’re excited about what you can do with the syrup {you are excited, aren’t you?), let’s get to the most important part–making it!

Before we get gully started though let’s talk a bit about ingredient variants. Depending on your personal preferences, you can customize my recipe to suit your own tastes:

• Figs: the recipe calls for fresh figs and there are 3 main varieties that are readily available: Sierra, Tiger, and Mission. They vary in flavor intensity so pick the one that has your flavor profile preference
• Vanilla beans: your can choose between several types, such as Mexican, Tahitian or Madagascar. Each has a distinctive flavor profile, so to get some insight into the difference between the types of vanilla, check out this article that breaks it down
• You can make regular simple that’s a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water or a rich simple that’s 2:1. Naturally a rich simple syrup will be much sweeter and thicker
• Sugar: you can use any sugar that tickles your fancy, such as Demerara, coconut, agave, or regular ol’ white granulated sugar. Again, different sugars will yield slightly different tastes. To delve more into the subject, one of my fave mags, Imbibe Magazine, has a great cheat sheet for you to check out

And now, without further ado, on to the recipe followed by a play-by-play barrage of photos to guide you along the path of preparation!

It was actually a fun and simple process to make the syrup, but I couldn’t stop there–I just HAD to try out my new creation to see how it paired with my beloved bubbly.

Needless to say it was absolutely delicious. The recipe is simple: .5 ounces of fig simple + 4-5 ounces of bubbly poured into a white wine glass or flute = fizzy, figgy bliss. I will definitely be serving these little delights all throughout the fall–they may even make an appearance at this year’s Thanksgiving table.

There you have it, my darlings! The first fig-inspired recipe straight from the mind of a Bubbleista. So tell me what you think: will you try this recipe? What cocktailery do you think I should do with my fig bounty? I’m so excited to share more recipes in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

#Figapalooza