Air-Flown Solliès-Pont Figs from France

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

From the low­er val­ley of the Gapeau in Sol­liès-Pont, a part of the Côte d’Azur, this par­tic­u­lar prized fig is har­vest­ed man­u­al­ly from mid-August to mid-Novem­ber each year. It is a hardy fruit, with a teardrop shape and a firm, dense, sup­ple exterior.

The insides of this fig are anoth­er sto­ry entire­ly. Here, the pulp is glossy and juicy, dark red with beige grains. It has the intense, beau­ti­ful­ly com­bined scent of water­mel­on, hon­ey­dew mel­on, and straw­ber­ries. It is ten­der and full-bod­ied on the tongue all through­out — tart and sweet at once. 

PREPA­RA­TION OR PAIRINGS

These prized figs can be served fresh or cooked into dish­es. Fresh, they make a great accom­pa­ni­ment to game meats, pork, rab­bit, and salmon. We rec­om­mend them paired with our Cas­taing Entier Goose Foie Gras Duo. Just sear the foie gras and serve the sliced figs on the side. You can also pair these figs with a light repast of hams and cheeses. Oth­er deli­cious ways to use these figs are to wrap them in pro­sciut­to slices, roast them with cubes of Roque­fort cheese on top, or bake them into crumbly tarts with a side of French vanil­la ice cream.

A REGION’S PRIDE AND JOY

Since the Mid­dle Ages, the Gapeau has been blessed with lush mead­ows and val­leys per­fect for grow­ing the tra­di­tion­al Mediter­ranean tril­o­gy of cere­als, vines, and olive trees. The fig orchards came about between the two World Wars of the 20^th cen­tu­ry, when the trees’ pro­duc­tion exceed­ed those of cher­ries and the then-declin­ing olives. By the 1960s, figs dom­i­nat­ed the fruit pro­duc­tion in the Sol­liès area. With the cre­ation of the Canal of Provence in the late 1970s, the fig trees secured their place as the pride and joy of the region.

DIS­CLAIMER ON AVAIL­ABIL­I­TY OF PRE-ORDERED AIR-FLOWN PRODUCE

This is a pre-ordered item at The Bow Tie Duck and will only be avail­able while the pro­duc­er from over­seas is able to sup­ply and allow air-flown deliv­ery. Because this item is sub­ject to sea­son­al avail­abil­i­ty, we require a total min­i­mum quan­ti­ty of 3kg to be able to ship. If the min­i­mum is not met by our cut-off date, we will have to delay the entire ship­ment. In case of deliv­ery delays, deliv­ery can­cel­la­tions,​“out of stock” notices, or​“out of sea­son” notices after pur­chase, you will be con­tact­ed by our Sup­port Team. You will receive a refund or prod­uct replace­ment, or you can choose a new deliv­ery date for your item. In choos­ing to place an order, you agree to the terms and have read that this par­tic­u­lar prod­uct is not on-hand. After a short wait, you will receive your orders fresh from the source.

Storage Instructions

Figs must be kept cold to slow dete­ri­o­ra­tion. They are extreme­ly frag­ile. If you are not using them imme­di­ate­ly, store them in a plas­tic bag in the cold­est part of your refrig­er­a­tor for up to two days. Fresh figs can be frozen whole, sliced, or peeled in a sealed con­tain­er for ten to twelve months.