It is a known fact that figs are highly perishable fruit with a shorter shelf life. These fruits are picked from orchards when they ripe and once picked, they do not ripe further. Due to this reason only, people prefer consuming it within two or three days of purchase from Fig distributors. However, there are some interesting ways that maintain the freshness of figs for a long duration when stored properly.
Right Storage of Figs
Prefer storing ripe figs in a refrigerator. This will maintain their freshness for up to a week’s time. To ensure the same, follow these tips while storing them in a refrigerator:
- Throw Away Overripe or Moldy Figs: Once you purchase figs from distributors, check the entire lot carefully. Ripe figs should have purple skin and soft feel. Discard or throw away the bad ones i.e. ones with too soft feel from the lot to safeguard the entire batch.
- Placing in a Breathable Tray: Store the ripe fruit in a polystyrene or cardboard tray. Do remember to place paper towels between the two figs so that no piece can touch each other directly. This further helps in absorbing fruits’ moisture and maintains their freshness.
- Wrapping before Placing in a Refrigerator: After storing them in a tray, try to wrap the figs’ tray in a plastic bag so that no other fruit and vegetable present inside the refrigerator can absorb their aroma. If your refrigerator has a separate fruit tray, store them in that particular tray. This will keep them fresh for a longer duration.
How to tell if figs are spoiled?
The best way to tell whether figs are good or spoiled, simply smell its aroma. An overripe or rotted fig has sour smell. Placing such kind of figs with fresh figs or any other fresh vegetables and fruits spoil them due to production of ethylene gas.
Some figs do smell good but you will find appearance of white powder over it. This is because the natural sugar present in the food comes to the surface. Such kind of appearance is common due to the mold development also. However, if you are not sure whether the appearance of the white powder is due to the mold formation or natural sugar, play safe by discarding them. Thus, a handy tip is if you are purchasing figs from distributors; check their smell and outer appearance then only.
Methods of Extending Figs Life
Besides right storage, drying figs is a good way to extend the shelf life of the fruit. For drying figs, either use an oven or a dehydrator. If you are using the oven, follow these steps:
- Pre-heating Oven: Set the temperature of oven ideally at 140 degree Fahrenheit or even at a lower temperature. After that, place a rack in its middle level.
- Washing & Cutting: Wash all figs under running cold water and pat them dry with a towel.
- Placing Figs in Oven: Then, place the pieces of figs in a cooling tray over a baking sheet. Try to maintain ideal space between two pieces so that they do not touch each other. Place the tray in an oven and allow it to dry naturally for eight hours. But do not forget to check the progress regularly.
- Store Dried Figs: Once figs are dried completely, remove them from the oven. Then, keep these dried figs at a room temperature and in an air-tight container. In this way, you can purchase figs from distributors, dried them and enjoy their taste for up to twelve months.
However, all these storage methods will deliver excellent results only when you purchase ripe or not-so-ripe figs from reputed fig distributors. Moreover, check their smell and appearance before placing them inside the refrigerator or an oven. You can easily contact these distributors online. Simply search the fig distributors in your area, check their reviews and ratings and place an order accordingly.
