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Candied or Crystallised Figs
Proceed as in third method for drying until the syrupdipping stage is reached. At this point, on removing them from the boiling syrup drain and sprinkle thickly with granulated sugar, then place on thin wooden slabs or "hurdles" of galvanised iron and dry very slowly in fruit-dryer or slow oven, turning the figs frequently. When thoroughly dried and sugared these may be packed in layers, with oil paper between and kept in a dry place. Or proceed as for candied cherries, dipping first in brine instead of lye.
This is the last step of a longer process — the book assumes you have already read the third drying method and the candied cherry entry, so read those first. What follows is really a set of finishing and storage instructions.
- The hinge: dry slowly, or the sugar meltsCandied fruit is finished at a much lower heat than baked goods. A "slow oven" in books of this period is generally reckoned somewhere in the 250-325F range, which would weep and caramelise the sugar coat here. Use a dehydrator at 135-150F, or an oven propped open at its lowest setting, and turn the figs often as instructed.
- Galvanised hurdlesGalvanised iron is zinc-coated, and zinc reacts with acidic, moist fruit. Substitute stainless steel cooling racks, food-grade nylon dehydrator mesh, or parchment on a sheet pan.
- The brine dipNo strength is given; the original leaves it to the cook's judgement. Brine dips of this kind were used briefly before syruping, with the fruit rinsed afterward.
- Why the cherries used lyeLye dips were used on fruit to check or crack the waxy skin so syrup could enter. Here the recipe substitutes brine; do not carry the lye step over from the cherry recipe.
- Oil paperWaxed paper or parchment does the same job. Cut sheets to the tin and separate every layer, or the sugar coats will fuse into one block.
- Syrup-dipping in practiceThe figs go from hot syrup to a heavy roll in granulated sugar while still wet — the surface sugar sets as a crust as it dries. Work in small batches so the syrup stays hot enough to drain cleanly.
- When they are doneA finished candied fig is firm and tacky, not sticky or damp at the stem end, and springs back slightly when pressed. Expect several days in a dehydrator, longer in a cool oven.
- StorageA sealed tin in a cool, dry cupboard holds these for months. Refrigeration is counterproductive: condensation dissolves the sugar crust and invites mould.
Candying is one of the oldest ways of keeping fruit — sugar in high enough concentration binds the water that spoilage organisms need, which is why the same syrup-and-dry method appears for cherries, citrus peel, angelica and figs alike in books of this era. Fig-growing in the United States expanded sharply in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly in California, where growers imported Smyrna varieties and the fig wasp needed to pollinate them; over the same period, household and small-scale commercial recipes for drying, preserving and candying multiplied in bulletins and cookery collections. The cross-references here — "proceed as in third method," "proceed as for candied cherries" — are typical of a book organised by fruit rather than by technique, and assume a reader working straight through the fig chapter rather than dipping in at one page.