Fig sparkling water, three ways
The unsweetened infusion, the syrup, and the ratio that makes the finished drink.
In season: Dried, year round. Fresh figs run August to October and are worse for this, being mostly water and pectin.
Advertisement
Infused, unsweetened
Use
5 dried figs per 1 litre, stems off, quartered
Method
Quarter them so the cut faces are open, cover with cold still water, refrigerate. Rinse them first if the bag lists sulphur dioxide, because the coating tastes sharp in a drink. What you get is honeyed and malty. Nobody has ever mistaken fig water for a fruit drink, and that is fine once you know it going in.
Time
12 hours minimum. Dried fruit has to rehydrate before it releases anything, which is why 4 hours produces plain water with a hint of sweetness.
Sparkling
Still water. Twelve hours rules carbonation out anyway.
Keeps
3 days refrigerated with the figs pulled. It is cloudy and stays cloudy. That is pectin and there is nothing to be done about it.
The syrup
Ratio
1 cup chopped dried figs : 1 cup sugar : 2 cups water
Method
Dried fruit drinks water, so this one starts with double. Simmer 15 minutes until the figs are soft and swollen, steep off the heat 30 minutes, strain without pressing. The figs left in the sieve are good on yogurt.
Keeps
3 weeks refrigerated, 6 months frozen
Note
Fig syrup is naturally thick and cloudy from the pectin, so do not chase clarity you cannot get. Half a vanilla pod or 6 black peppercorns in the simmer gives it somewhere to go.
The finished soda
1 part syrup to 5 parts sparkling water, over ice, strip of lemon peel
Fig soda sits closer to a cream soda than a fruit soda and it wants to. Two drops of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Skip the lemon squeeze.
The shrub version
1 cup chopped dried figs steeped in 1.5 cups balsamic or cider vinegar for 1 week at room temperature, strained, then 1 cup sugar stirred through. Keeps 3 months. Fig and balsamic is the version worth the week.
What doesn't work: Treating dried figs like berries and giving them a short steep. Four hours in cold water gets you faintly sweet water and nothing else, because the fruit is still rehydrating and has not begun releasing. Give it 12 hours or put it in a pan.
Goes with: OrangeTart cherry