Land Conservation, Public Access, and Figs!
Jack Spruill joins us to talk about land conservation, public access — and figs!
Land Conservation
We chat with Jack Spruill, whose farm is on the shore of North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound, the largest freshwater sound in the world.
Spruill plans to donate the farm to an organization that will maintain public access, with the land used for low-impact farming, research, and education programs.
At the moment, some of the property is used for a community garden — and a community fig orchard.
Talking about land conservation, public access — and figs — with Jack Spruill.
We talk about:
The idea of public access, and how it scares some organizations
Mechanisms for land conservation
Tips for bringing people together around food and gardening
The community fig orchard
Connect
Spruill Farm: spruillfarm.org
Rooftop Veggie Garden and Figs in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh gardener Seth Finn talks about the rooftop garden where he grows veg and figs.
Fig plants on the roof of Dinette restaurant in Pittsburgh.
Container Gardening
Pittsburgh gardener Seth Finn talks about his container garden and the container garden on the roof of his daughter’s restaurant.
The restaurant rooftop garden furnished the restaurant with fresh figs and shishito peppers amongst other things.
We talk about:
Wicking containers
How often to replace or top up the potting soil
Growing figs in wicking containers on the roof
Plumbing together a series of containers to simplify watering
How to Use Fig Leaves in the Kitchen
Chef David Salt talks about how to use fig leaves in the kitchen.
Cooking with Fig Leaves: Chef David Salt’s Tips
Fig leaves smell a little like coconut, toasted almond—and something green. But how do you capture that flavour in food?
Toronto chef David Salt joins me to explain how he uses fig leaves in both sweet and savoury dishes. We talk about wrapping food in fig leaves, making infusions, choosing complementary flavours—and why boiling the leaves can give you a less-than-delicious stewed-vegetable taste.
David first cooked with fig leaves while working as a chef in London, England, where he gathered leaves from fig trees in a nearby churchyard. After moving to Toronto, he needed a new source. That’s when this enquiry landed in my inbox:
“I am looking for fig leaves to make dishes with at my restaurant (fig leaf ice cream, jelly, savoury sauces, custards etc.) Is there any possibility of getting some from you, before they fall for the winter?”
There was. David collected bags of leaves from my garden—and later invited me to taste his fig-leaf ice cream, fig-leaf cheese and fig-leaf grappa.
David’s recipes, along with a short profile of him, also appear in my book, Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t.
In This Episode
What fig leaves taste like
Two ways to use them: wrapping and infusing
Sweet and savoury flavour pairings
Why gentle heat brings out the flavour
When a cold infusion is the better choice
Why you shouldn’t boil fig leaves
David’s favourite fig-leaf creation
How our fig-leaf collaboration began
How to Cook with Fig Leaves
You don’t eat the fig leaf itself. Instead, you use it to flavour food—and then remove it.
David uses two main techniques.
Use fig leaves as a wrap, or infuse them to draw out their flavour.
Wrap Food in Fig Leaves
The classic approach is to use fig leaves much as you’d use banana leaves. Wrap them around fish or meat before cooking.
The leaves help to hold in moisture while gently flavouring the food. Because the flavour is delicate, David finds that fig leaves work especially well with lightly flavoured fish and meat.
Make a Fig-Leaf Infusion
You can also steep fig leaves in a liquid to extract their flavour. David uses infusions in ice cream, custards, sauces and other dishes.
Heat helps to release the flavour—but don’t boil the leaves. Boiling can replace that lovely coconut-and-almond character with something more like stewed vegetables.
When time permits, David prefers a cold infusion. It takes longer, but produces a cleaner, more delicate flavour.
Pairing Fig-Leaf Flavour
David finds that fig leaves pair particularly well with strawberries, blueberries, lightly flavoured meat and fish.
But don’t let that stop you from experimenting. He has even paired fig leaf with hot chocolate—a much stronger flavour—and found that it worked well.
His favourite fig-leaf creation? Ice cream.
Meet Chef David Salt
Chef David Salt, founder of Drifter’s Solace in Toronto.
David Salt is the chef behind Drifter’s Solace, an intimate chef’s-table dining experience in downtown Toronto.
His cooking draws on French technique, his years working in London kitchens and flavours encountered during his travels. At Drifter’s Solace, David prepares and presents the meal himself—creating a much more personal experience than you’d find in a large restaurant.
Visit Drifter’s Solace to learn more about David, the dining experience and upcoming menus.
More Ways to Cook with Fig Leaves
Ready to experiment with leaves from your own fig tree?
Fig Leaves in the Kitchen — the story of my first tasting with David, including fig-leaf ice cream, cheese and grappa
Fig-Leaf Panna Cotta Recipe — an easy dessert with a delicate fig-leaf flavour
Fig-Leaf Syrup Recipe — a simple syrup for desserts, fruit, drinks and savoury dishes
Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t
Want to grow the leaves—and the figs—to use in your kitchen?
My revised and expanded fig book covers growing figs in pots and cold climates, with practical guidance on varieties, pruning, ripening and winter protection. You’ll also find David’s fig-leaf recipes and a short profile of him in the book.
Keep Listening
The Food Garden Life Show brings you practical ideas and conversations about growing—and using—food at home.
Hear from gardeners, growers, cooks, authors and other people living the food-garden life.
Angelo's Fig Tree
In the Biggs-on-Figs segment for December 2020, we head to the Toronto suburb of Vaughan to get the scoop on the fig tree at Angelo’s Garden Centre.
Over the years Steven has had lots of people ask whether he knows of the tree. He sure does—he’s long admired it.
He finds out about the history of the 19-foot-high fig tree from Carlo Amendolia, owner of Angelo’s Garden Centre.
Figs: A Taste of Home in a Country of Immigrants
We chat with Montreal fig enthusiast—and fig tourist—Michal Hacio.
Hacio says that his passion for growing figs and meeting other fig growers started when he spent time living in Vancouver, where an Italian neighbour introduced him to fig growing.
A Taste of Home
Hacio says that in a country of immigrants such as Canada, people often bring something to connect them with their home country.
For many people, that something is a fig plant.
A Way to Connect
He finds that a shared interest in figs is a good way to connect with other people.
Hacio recounts the time he spotted a fig tree growing in the Westmount neighbourhhod of Montreal. He got chatting with the gardener…and by the time he was finished, he had heard the gardeners whole life story, including how the fig tree had been given to him by someone who was originally from Greece.
Overwintering Figs
Hacio has overwintered figs many different ways in Montreal. His key message for would-be growers is that there is more than one solution to overwintering figs in a cold climate. “Be creative,” he advises.
He’s met people who cart them into the basement, people who put the plants into a heated garage, and people who bury them.
“If you want to reap the reward of these fruits you have to be creative.”
Fig Books for Northern Gardeners
Growing and Sharing Figs in a Community Fig Orchard
Jack Spruill at the Spruill Farm Community Fig Orchard
In this interview that first broadcast live on the Food Garden Life Radio Show in 2018, we chat with Jack Spruill in North Carolina about the community fig orchard on his family farm and about his work developing a conservation project to protect the farm from future development.
Community Fig Orchard
Spruill explains that the farm grows very good figs. They were an important crop for his grandparents, who bought the farm in 1914.
But by the time his father took over the farm, things were starting to change. The figs still grew well…but they were no longer a money-making crop.
So his father started to let people come to pick figs for free. Along with fresh eating, there is a local tradition of making fresh figs into fig conserve.
The fig orchard was a community fig orchard even before he started to call it such.
Spruill says that these days, some people come to pick a few figs for fresh eating—and some still come for figs to make fig conserve.
Want More Information About Growing Figs?
What's New in the Garden, Q+A, Figs
In our mid-July garden check-in, we talk about what’s new in our garden.
Currants
The currant and gooseberry harvest
How to use currants
Did you know that red and black currants are pruned differently?
Rhubarb
Looking for a delicious rhubarb recipe? Emma shares her favourite
Carrots
Sharing our failures…we stressed out one of our carrot patches so badly that the carrot plants went to seed. Oops. Carrots have a 2-year life cycle—when they go to seed in the first year, that’s a sign they could use a bit more TLC
Beefsteak Tomato Harvest
The tomato harvest is coming along nicely, after some worry about blossom end rot
Fig Q+A
Why are my fig leaves drooping?
What’s going on with my fig leaves?
How do I make my fig into a bush?
REWIND: An Engineer Grows Figs in NJ
William Muzychko grows figs in New Jersey.
In a program first broadcast live on the radio show in 2018, we chat with Bill Muzychko of Bill’s Figs in Flemington, New Jersey.
Growing Figs in Containers
Muzychko grows over 180 varieties of figs—all in containers—and all in zone where they would not normally survive without winter protection.
Figs with Sub-Irrigation
Muzychko sets up his containers with a sub-irrigation system that provides the fig plants with a steady supply of water.
Francesco’s Fig Tree
The Story of a Fig Tree that Brought Together a Community
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Radio Show, June 2020
In the Biggs-on-Figs segment, Steven is joined by author Helena Moncrieff, who shares the story of a Toronto gardener whose fig tree became an integral part of the neighbourhood.
Moncrieff is the author of the book The Fruitful City.
Henena Moncrieff, author of The Fruitful City, tells the story of Francesco’s fig tree
Off the Beaten Path with…Figs
Growing Unusual Fruit in PA
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Radio Show, May 2020
In The Biggs-on-Figs segment, Steven talks with Bill Lauris, a chemistry teacher and nursery operator in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who loves growing figs and other unusual fruit. Bill runs Off the Beaten Path Nursery.
Bill Lauris from Off the Beaten Path Nursery.
Heat Column to Protect Figs
An Innovative Overwintering Idea
A heat column for overwintering figs
Excerpt from The Garage Gardeners Radio Show, March 2020
In The Biggs-on-Figs segment, Steven talks with Will Pananes, a fig grower in Pennsylvania who uses heat column to protect his figs over the winter.
Growing Figs in the Mountains
Figs harvest from Tony Christini’s fig trees in West Virginia
West Virginia Fig Grower Shares Top Varieties
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, November 2019
In The Biggs-on-Figs segment, Steven talks with Tony Christini, a fig grower in West Virginia whose focus is hardy and early-ripening fig varieties suited to his mountain growing conditions.
Grow Figs in Seattle
Seattle Fig Grower Creates Ultimate Fig Breba List
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, October 2019
In The Biggs-on-Figs segment, Steven talks with Ben Nguyen from Seattle Garden & Fruit Adventures about growing figs in Seattle and about Ben’s Ultimate Fig Breba List.
Ocracoke Fig Festival
A Festival to Celebrate Figs
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, July 2019
Tune in for a chat with Sundae Horn, who helps to organize the Ocracoke Fig Festival on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. This two-day festival takes place this year on August 16th and 17th, and celebrates figs through food, history, music, and all sorts of fig stuff. Find out more about the festival—and find the recipe for Ocracoke fig cake—on the website for the Ocracoke Preservation Society.
Greenhouse Figs in Pennsylvania
A Greenhouse Grower Switches from Bedding Plants to Figs
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, June 2019
Tune in for a chat with John Biberich, a greenhouse fig grower in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
John and his wife Sue started growing figs and citrus as they were looking for unique crops that give them a place in an industry that’s increasingly reliant on automation and dominated by discount and big-box stores.
It’s a neat idea to consider for people thinking of how to carve out a niche in horticulture.
Springtime Fig Shuffle
Springtime Fig Tree Care
Ross Raddi
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, May 2019
Tune in for a chat with Ross Raddi. Ross is a 27-year-old backyard orchardist in the Philadelphia area who is passionate about growing his own fruit and vegetables. Ross talks about what to do with figs trees in the spring, as they start to come out of dormancy.
Greenhouse Figs in Massachusetts
Fresh Figs as a Crop
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, April 2019
Tune in for a chat with Trish Crapo and Tom Ashley at Dancing Bear Farm in Leyden, Massachusetts. They got into figs by accident a decade ago—and now they sell fresh figs at farmers markets and sell fig trees to other cold-climate gardeners.
Hi, We’re Steve and Emma!
We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard.
