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Fruit Sandwiches
Remove stems and finely chop figs; add a small quantity of water, cook in double boiler until a paste is formed, then add a few drops of lemon juice. Cool mixture, and spread on thin slices of buttered bread; sprinkle with finely chopped peanuts and cover with pieces of buttered bread.
A fig-paste sandwich from Fannie Farmer's sandwich chapter, meant for tea trays and lunch boxes. The whole thing hinges on cooking the figs down far enough that the filling holds together instead of soaking the bread.
- FigsAlmost certainly dried figs, which is what the cooking-to-a-paste step implies. Calimyrna or Mission both work; the recipe gives no quantities, so judge by eye.
- "A small quantity of water"Start with just enough to barely cover the chopped figs and add more by the spoonful. The target is a stiff, spreadable jam that mounds on the spoon; too loose and it will wet the bread within the hour.
- Double boilerUsed here because fig paste scorches easily over direct heat. A heavy saucepan on low with frequent stirring will do the same job faster, if you watch it.
- Lemon juice"A few drops" means just that; a scant 1/8 teaspoon at most. It is there to cut the flatness of cooked dried fruit, not to make the filling taste of lemon.
- PeanutsThe recipe says only "finely chopped peanuts." Salted cocktail peanuts will overwhelm the figs; plain roasted, chopped fine and used lightly, is the safer reading.
- The breadThin-sliced firm white sandwich bread, buttered right to the edges on both slices — the butter is a moisture barrier as much as a flavour. Trim crusts and cut in fingers or triangles if serving at tea.
- Make-aheadThe paste keeps a few days refrigerated and spreads better slightly warmed. Assemble no more than a couple of hours ahead and keep the sandwiches under a damp cloth.
Fruit sandwiches belong to a period in which a sandwich was a formal category of light refreshment rather than a lunch — something cut small for afternoon tea, receptions, and travelling baskets, and set out alongside savoury fillings. Dried figs and peanuts were both widely available in American groceries by the end of the nineteenth century, figs arriving in pressed layers from Smyrna and, increasingly, California, peanuts moving from a Southern field crop towards a national snack in the decades after the Civil War. Sweetened fruit paste with chopped nuts between buttered bread was a common formula of the era, with dates, prunes or raisins substituted freely. It also reflects a practical bent: a filling that could be cooked in quantity, kept, and spread without the last-minute assembly a meat or salad sandwich demands.