Figs

Goriška Brda’s inhabitants have always valued the mature fruits of the fig tree. They enjoyed the spring varieties, and sold them fresh (‘medniče’, ‘belice’, ‘bonke’, ‘madone’ and other varieties); as well as the autumn ones, ‘vendimske’, that they mostly dried to sell in the winter.


They were first sulphurised and stacked along the basket’s edge with their stems up. Under the basket they put some embers and then put sulphur and a bottomless barrel over it. They left them like this for several hours and then dried them on the sun, compressed them, sulphurised them again and put them in wooden crates. In December when they got covered with sugar, they were sold. Some put dried figs on willow rods and tied them in a ring. For home use they split the figs in half and dried them on the sun or in the oven. Black figs were dried and used to prepare coffee. The children usually only got the ‘rapulj’, the stalk that they cut off the dried figs.


Due to increased awareness of the beneficial properties that figs have, interest is increasing in them again. The search of our ancestors’ good old recipes and at the same time the enrichment of this delicious fruit with modern knowledge, gives use wider selection as well as authenticity and simplicity.