Reap & Eat: Sun-Drying Figs

What do you do when you have a fig tree that just keeps on giving?  You dry them of course!  This is my first time ever sun-drying figs or anything for that matter {there seems to be a lot of firsts for me in the gardening world- this makes me happy}.  

Having no real contraption to sun dry figs in I made one on the fly using an old cabinet door that was lying around in the garage, a bake drying rack, a few bricks and an old window screen {like so, as seen below}, I know, totally janky right? But it works great! 

The bake drying rack is perfect for drying figs on since the rack has little feet keeping it off the ground, meaning air circulation underneath the figs as well as over {which I think may be of some importance}.  The bricks are quite short when laid on their sides and makes a great barrier to hold the screen up, both low bricks and window screen are great items to use to allow ample sun light through while keeping bugs, pests and birds away.

I'm drying out the figs all-natural, I simple pick them from the tree when looking ripe enough which means slightly soft to the touch and purple all around.  Some figs fall off the tree when they're ripe but mine do not, they just burst or to be more precise, open up- it's actually looks quite disturbing, the fruit peels open from the end and all the seeds are exposed {very alien-like}. Anyhow, I pick the fruit when they are just ripe, give them a quick wash and throw them into the sun-drying rack.  I put out the drying rack in the morning when the sun is out and take the rack in at sundown to protect the figs from the night time moisture {which I also think is probably important to do}.

So far I've been drying for about a week, the figs aren't quite done to be called sun-dried figs but I had the pleasure of eating one today anyway.  I cut the fig in half, the outer skin was quite dry, the layer of skin right underneath the outer layer was a little chewy and the inside was like jam.  I have to admit I was a little hesitant to eat it, I've never sun-dried anything before you see, but I ate it and it was... really REALLY good :)  It tasted of fig jam and the chewy skin was actually quite pleasant with the jammy filling.  Apparently you can eat the drying figs at any stage! < How awesome is that!

Reap & Eat: A Green Salad from Freshly Grown Mixed Baby Lettuce

When you're as impatient as I am everything seems slow to grow, at first.  Naturally this was the case with the mixed baby lettuce I'm growing in an old sink (my way of recycling, not sure if you can even call this recycling).  Then the lettuce seemed to grow over night, day after day the lettuce filled out the sink and it was just as I imagined it would be... an old sink plant bed full of beautiful, lush, edible greens!  I did it!  I did it!  :D  This really is quite an achievement for me, remember I'm the girl that managed to have only one surviving tomato plant out of eleven or so different veg I tried to plant a year ago. Ah~ life is beautiful... today.

So, by the looks of it I needed to make a green salad, after all the sink bed is looking quite crowded and so a good trim would be a very wise thing to do.  

First, let me explain the master plan by which I plot to eat these fresh tender greens, the plan is called "Cut and come again".  The "Cut and come again" method is cutting the leafy lettuce when they are no shorter than 4-5 inches tall, cut them 1-2 inches above the soil, and the lettuce will grow back (or keep growing I should say to be more precise).  Apparently you can repeat this method for another three or four times or until the lettuce begins tasting like rubber, which probably would be a great time for me to dump it into the compost and start anew, or if I was smart I would have already started another lettuce bed (but I haven't yet and really should :/ *shrug).  I cut only what I needed and left the rest to keep growing.

With my kitchen sheers and bowl I went out to gather some fresh mixed baby greens.  I cut only the leaves that were 4 inches or taller and left 1 inch above the soil line.  I thought there wouldn't be nearly enough for two but there was, looks can be awfully deceiving (a very important all-around life lesson).

The greens were indeed fresh and I was able to tell immediately by the moist buttery texture.  I dressed the mixed baby greens with a very easy-to-make red wine vinaigrette.

Ingredients I needed:

Red wine vinegar

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

1 Small minced or squished garlic (I always squish my garlic since it's much easier to do with my handy dandy garlic squisheing gadget thingy)

What I did to make red-wine vinaigrette:

1.  In a small bowl I poured the olive oil and red wine vinegar, 3 parts olive oil and 1 part vinegar (sometimes I really want to taste the tangy vinegar and so I'll add a little more than a 3:1 ratio but I never really go past 2:1).

2.  I Add two pinches of salt and four grinds of black pepper (I love pepper, never can get enough of the stuff).

3.  Then I squished a small clove of garlic right into the mixture.

4.  And whisked away with a fork until the mixture was emulsified.