Dehydrated Figs

I’ve learned that there a lot of people that have never tried figs. It’s hard for me to imagine since I grew up with a fig bush not only in our yard but in my grandparents yard and pretty much everybody’s yard that I visited as a child. The question is what do you do with figs?  Well there is always the true southern Fig Preserves.  There are recipes using the figs with goat cheese, yummy.  We started looking at the figs that are already so sweet and sticky and you don’t have time to make your fig dish yet.  I decided to dehydrate them and this has been a great way to use them.  We use the dried figs during the winter as a sweetener in our green smoothies and other dishes that we don’t want to add sugar to but need a touch of sweet. You just have to remember to place them in a bowl of water and let them reconstitute before you get ready to use them.

What you need:

Figs that you have that are ready to dry.

A dehydrator (I have an Excalibur and I love it)

Rinse off the figs right before using them.

Break off the stem.

Cut the fig in half or leave whole, your choice.  (Of course they will dry faster if cut in half)

Set the dehydrator on the setting for fruit. Set the timer for 24 hours (this will vary depending on the moisture in the figs and the humidity in the air).  Check at this point and see if they need additional drying.

When there is no more moisture left in the figs store them in a glass jar or ziplock bag.  You have to be sure that no moisture can get to them.