I arrived in southwestern France last week where the figs are gloriously in abundance. Unfortunately, I was insufferable every day once I became a fig farmer who could harvest sun-warmed figs each day for breakfast. No one could tell me *anything.*
I was crowd sourcing ideas for how to cook with fig leaves on Instagram and everyone gave me such brilliant ideas that I thought I would share them here with you!
First and foremost, when picking the leaves, be careful not to get any of the white sap on your skin as it may cause irritation and make you more susceptible to sunburn.
Chef (and florist) Sidra Forman (who has the most exceptional backyard and home restaurant in Washington DC) makes a simple tea from the fresh leaves that is a great base for a vodka cocktail. She adds a squeeze of lemon or lime and serves over ice with a fig garnish. She says you can lightly sweeten the tea with sugar, or, for more control, make the cocktail and add simple syrup a tiny bit at a time “until it gets flavorful but not sweet. I find a little sugar brings out the fig leaf flavor.”
Ryan Lim, who used to be a chef at Arpege, recommends making a fig leaf oil. He says “barely warm the oil with the leaves filmed in and store in the fridge for 2 days before bottling.” He uses a neutral oil like grape seed or sunflower “anything but olive” and puts fresh fig leaves in it and lets it gently warm up, but it should “never even be close to boiling or heating up. You can even heat it outside in the sun. Keep the pot covered with plastic film and put in the fridge for 2 days” and then you can bottle it for your own use.
Author of the new novel Vantage Point, Sara Sligar, says that fig leaf infused cream on coffee is big in LA lately!
Writer and chef Sutanya Dacres who runs amazing supper clubs for single women in Paris says she loves a classic tart with pistachio frangipane (which you can make from scratch without almonds if you’re allergic, as I am).
Personal chef in Ile du Ré, Hbd1406, gave me the exciting suggestion of wrapping oysters in the leaves around their shells before putting them on the bbq and letting them steam inside their shells. He recommends scorching the ends of the fig leaf to prevent the white liquid from burning you when making an infusion, but he uses the leaves fresh to infuse oil or syrup as that makes them greener and more floral in taste. He also recommends enrobing a chicken or a fish in the fig leaves and cooking them inside that.
New ice cream shop Glaster in the Belleville neighborhood of Paris currently has a fig leaf with fig compote swirl ice cream on the menu.
One recipe I found from the French magazine Saveurs showed an entire chicken and potatoes wrapped inside several leaves and steamed together in a large terrine dish that was sealed with bread dough to keep the steam from getting out.
Gourmet mushroom grower Stephane Ferron of Rooted in SXM says she likes to dry them in the oven or dehumidify them as it’s “one of my favorite teas to drink and can also be cooled after as a flavoured water.”
Noted home cook Ross McGuire says fig leaf ice cream is a delight and that Myrtle or Darina Allen or Rory O’Connell in Ireland would have some good recipes online as the “the folks in Ballymaloe have always been big fans of the fig leaf.” I did a brief google and found he was in fact correct and Darina appears to love a fig leaf jelly.
Diplomat Reachbha Fitzgerald had a wonderful fig flavoured Basque cheesecake with “amazing fig leaf cream” at the wine bar Trouble in Paris. Worth seeking out there or recreating on your own at home!
Writer Elyssa Goldberg of the substack Bokeh points out that there’s a great fig leaf kombucha from Archipel so if you brew your own that could be a flavor to consider.
My friend Esmeralda says to “burn them in the oven and turn them into a cordial, add lemon. Burnt fig leaf lemonade is such a winner.”
My friend Ash gave me many brilliant suggestions including “ice cream, fig salt, drying the leaves out to use all year, freezing them to extend their life, and also fig leaf pickles.”
My friend Vanessa suggested steaming white fish in fig leaves or poaching the fig leaf wrapped fish in infused milk or coconut milk.
Cheese and perfume writer Christine Clark passed along a David Lebovitz recipe for fig leaf and honey ice cream that would be excellent if I had an ice cream maker. He gives some good advice about how an enzyme in fig leaves can occasionally cause milk to curdle and what to do if that happens with your recipe. She seconded its use in a latte, too.
The number one suggestion, from too many of you to count, was infusing cream for panna cotta! Clearly it’s an excellent option since so many reached out with that idea!
As for me, I gently toasted my leaves in the oven and then infused them in a simple syrup that was a smashing success. I’ve now used the same batch of fig leaf syrup as a homemade soda (just add sparkling water), in a cocktail (Sidra’s recipe above), whipped into mascarpone, and to marinate some figs that were destined for Marian Burros’ (rightfully) legendary plum torte (in place of plums). I don’t even drink coffee usually, but I made myself delightful little fig leaf lattes every morning by mixing it with a double shot of espresso and adding a bunch of cream, and it sweetened my day every day to start it that way. Lastly, my friend Caroline and I made cardamom fig rolls (like a cinnamon roll) topped with a mascarpone fig leaf glaze. They were extraordinary and I’ll share that recipe soon with paid subscribers.
Fig leaf is a shapeshifter ingredient, I’ve found. The fragrance of the fig leaf is wonderful emanating from the tree, but becomes headier and more complex when you cook with it. Toasting the leaves in the oven perfumed the entire house and made for the most luxurious natural air freshener. Once I made my syrup from said leaves, it tasted very coconutty with a hint of cinnamon, while a vodka cocktail with lime using the exact same syrup brought out more vanilla notes. Keeping the leaves green when cooking rather than toasting them should yield greener and more floral flavors. It’s been great fun to play around with. Now that we have all these great suggestions, I hope you play around with it, too.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to generously share their fig leaf recipes and dreams with me, and I look forward to hearing whatever experiments you all do on your own! Please report back.
