Cooking the Garden…and the Orchard

and two recipes for you to create at home

July is always Italy’s hottest month and the most prolific time of the year for our land’s produce. I spend my summertime trying to keep up with what our garden and fruit trees yield daily and turn it into our daily meals. 

Fig cake has been a dessert staple for years and if you are able to find fresh figs this cake is a winner! We are blessed to have two varieties: black and green - both delicious.

When figs aren't in season, I use the frozen figs from our trees. Otherwise apples and pears and peaches are great alternatives.

In July, and then again in September, when figs are ripe and luscious and the trees are heavy with them I pick them all. I rinse them off and lay them on a dish towel lined baking sheet to dry off. Once the figs are dry I place the baking sheets in the freezer. When the figs are frozen solid I pack them up in airtight freezer bags to use throughout the year. The bags in my freezer filled with hundreds of figs resemble bags full of golf balls but I know the treat th…