The Last Word On Nothing

On August 17, a magical text arrived. It read, in part: “I have many many ripe figs just a block or so away. They are in the tree ripening as I text. Can’t eat them fast enough. Please come on over whenever and pick yourself some!!”

I don’t know that I’d ever eaten a fresh fig before receiving this text. I’d certainly never really appreciated a fig. So the magical properties of this text were not immediately clear.

My most recent experience with figs was, in fact, with Fig Newtons. Some showed up on my building’s free shelf last winter, and in my desperate, pandemic-fueled search for novelty, I gave them a second chance. I don’t think I’d had one since childhood.

My question about Fig Newtons in 2021 is the same as it was in 1983: Who thought this was a good idea? Who thought “You know what would be great? A cookie that is somehow both mushy and gritty at the same time.”

But my friend was offering free fruit, and just as the pandemic lingers, so does the need for novelty, so I went over and filled a bowl with figs.

I had to fight for them, looking out for rogue ants and wasps. The local mosquitoes didn’t seem interested in the figs, but they were certainly interested in the Helen. Itchy bites on my legs, sticky sap on my fingers, I walked back to my building thinking that these figs better be pretty damn good.

Well, good news. They were extremely damn good. Sweet, fragrant, soft but not mushy. I went back to the tree several times, feeding the mosquitoes, plucking the fruits. I made a tart, and dropped off a slice on the porch of the friend with the tree.

From this experience, I learned that I don’t actually like fig tarts as much as I like raw figs. But a few days later I got a text from the friend. I learned she’d been sick (not COVID) with a fever, and this was the first food she’d felt like eating in days, and it was just what she needed.

The figs were still producing. Now they had proven medicinal value, so I made another tart and dropped off two slices.

Along with all of its destruction, the pandemic has brought many unexpected gifts. Baking is one. Connecting with friends who live nearby is another. Learning about the plants in my immediate neighborhood–that’s on the list. And figs. I thank the pandemic era for introducing me to figs.

Photos: Helen Fields