Food Variety (2) Bursa Figs

When you start reading food writers on the subject of  figs it’s not long before they start taking about sex. The Italians and D. H. Lawrence have a tendency to run on about the sexual nature of the fig too, as you will know if you’ve ever read “Figs“. He seems sound on his biology, but he does go on a bit. All in all I feel safer reading a gardening book for facts on figs.

The bursa figs come from the Turkish province of Bursa and, in the manner of such delicacies as grouse and Beaujolais Nouveau, are flown during the first part of the season.

Last month we ate figs that one of our neighbours gave us from her tree. They are just standard Brown Turkey, the most common variety in this country.

They aren’t as big or as purply black as Bursa fogs. They aren’t as soft or as thin-skinned either. Nor are they spoken of with such reverence.

Ser against this, there’s no sense of connection to a Bursa fig. Somebody anonymous grew it and I just handed money over in a shop to complete the deal. The article in The Telegraph is very informative about the people who grow the figs, but it isn’t the same as waving to them as you set off to work, and nobody from the supermarket shouts across the street to tell you they will be ripe by the end of the week.

It’s a sign that summer is over, but despite that we always look forwards to it. We are growing some cuttings with Quercus Community, but they had a set-back last year when a work-experience trainee with a strimmer took the tops off them. They fought their way back and are now growing miniature figs, though proper fruit is some years away. Tough things, figs.

Succulent Turkish Bursa Figs

 

Back to Bursa figs, do they live up to the hype? Well, they feel better in the mouth, being thinner skinned and softer and they are definitely more succulent than other figs you buy from the supermarket. At £2 for 4 they are very cheap for all the work that goes into them. I would certainly buy them in preference to other supermarket figs.

Garden figs have a smaller carbon footprint and need no packaging.

More important, the flavour and freshness of a fig from the garden can’t be beaten. It isn’t a fair test, but I never said I was fair. I’m not comparing like with like, I’m looking for the better fig. Black Bursa figs are excellent, but Brown Turkey straight from the garden is the better fig.