I ask you, does this fruit scream,"EAT ME!!!"? At the very most, it might garner a curious glance.

Now take a look when it's been sliced open.


Behold the transformation. Here's another close-up:



The texture inside is rather thick and pulpy. While sweet, it is not overbearingly so. And because of its mild flavour, this is excellent with salads, proscuitto ham and other cold dishes. It also comes dried, usually preserved with sugar. This is eaten as a snack or used in baking cakes or breads. My favourite way is eating it fresh and plain so I get the full taste of it. Just as nature intended.

I get my figs from the Turkish greengrocer. I buy 90% of my fruit and vegetables there. Not only are they more competitive in pricing and quality than the mainstream supermarkets, their selection is wider too. I can even find stuff that are staples in Singapore but are considered exotic here. Case in point: I was standing in line to pay for my purchase of sweet potatoes and fresh red chillis. With all the furtive glances into my basket from the other Dutch customers, you'd think I had a sheep's head in there. Funny!

Another reason why I frequent the Turkish shop so much is because I like looking at ingrendients from another culture and then try and fuse it with our family's style of cooking. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but there's no harm in trying. At the very worst, we all end up with bad tummies.*LOL*. But on the other end of the spectrum, we may discover yet another home-cooked keeper.

A last thought on figs. Cliched as it might sound, every time I bite into a fresh fig, I'm reminded never to judge anything or anyone based on exterior looks alone. You never know, you might have a treasure on your hands. You just need to peel back the layers.

Labels: fruit, here and there