I’m a hypocrite when it comes to food.

For 364 days a year, I preach on the importance of eating locally and sustainable food supplies to anyone who will listen.

"Say 'no' to plastic looking strawberries in January when you can see snow outside your Midwestern window."

"Plant a garden," I plead.

"Visit your local farmers’ market."

"Consider joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)."

"Do you know how far those tasteless grapes have traveled?"

Even my poor husband was shamed into giving up his banana a day habit.

Regretfully, the same gas guzzling truck that delivers strawberries from California to Chicago in January is likely the same truck that I wait for every August like a child waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. For this truck is carrying fresh black Mission figs from California. On the day it arrives in Chicago I shamefully slide off of my soapbox and slink to the little fruit market on Devon in Little India to collect as many pints of figs as I can carry. (12 pints this time – those free weight workouts are finally paying dividends.)

  

With so many figs I’m too busy to preach. I plan to make amends with anyone I have offended from my soapbox by offering them a jar of homemade fig preserves. Fresh figs are lovely – wrapped in prosciutto or filled with mascarpone cheese or simply drizzled with a little honey. But figs are transformed into something otherworldly and divine when cooked into preserves with a hint of citrus. Then there’s fig ice cream and flatbread with figs, caramelized onions and gorgonzola, and Basmati Rice with Figs, Mustard Seeds, and Ginger. And on it will go until I am at last breathless and out of figs with enough preserves to satiate my cravings through the coming year.

Alas, there is another tradition I embrace on fig day at the market; I bring home a large bunch of bananas for my husband. I am a fig loving hypocrite who loves her husband more than even the freshest of figs.

Fig Preserve Recipe

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 pounds firm, fresh figs, trimmed and quartered
• 2T lemon juice
• Zest of one lemon or orange

1. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in figs, lemon juice, and zest.
3. Simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the preserves are thick and syrupy, stirring occasionally. (I set a timer for every 20 minutes, so I don't forget about them.)

Preserves will keep refigerated for up to three months.