I have just found the perfect place for the first Figs4Fun international conference - the island of Malta! I am sitting here right now, overlooking St Paul's bay (where it was shipwrecked), eating dried figs and drinking the national drink, fig liqueur. Its a little pricey if you buy the small taster bottles, but a 1/2 liter bottle is only 8 Euros. A full litter is even a better deal. 

I've seen dormant fig bushes all over the city, so if we planned it right we could be here in the middle of fig season, fresh figs, dried figs, even drunk figs!

Gene, that looks so good.  Booking my ticket now.  ;)

If I have a half-way decent harvest this year I am going to try to make some myself next fall.

Looks awesome Gene. Enjoy!

The problem is you cannot carry a bottle in hand luggage, so I'm trying to figure out how to safely wrap one up to get home in my checked bag. 

Maybe I need to start an import business ;-)

Do me a favor, get a lot of cuttings for me   :)

And the recipe for their fig liquor.

Gene, thanks for an update!

I googled for fig liqueur recipes and found some. It seems not very hard to make one but that's where the art kicks in :)

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/131129/lifestyle-food/article/fig-liqueur-easiest-make-home

http://www.guntheranderson.com/liqueurs/figordat.htm

http://www.starchefs.com/features/summer_drinks/volume_6/html/recipe-fig-cocktail-chris-tunstall.shtml

And here is a recipe galore:
http://www.yummly.com/recipes/fig-liqueur

Sign me up!

Cheers!

This could end disastrously, knowing our addiction we would all likely smuggle beetle infested cuttings back and infect all of our usa stock....this could be bad...real bad..haha

Does the liqueur taste "figgy", or is it a more neutral taste?  I didn't even know this existed, and now I'm intrigued.

Gene,

    You sure know how to get the juices flowing!

    Here is a more detailed recipe: http://lickedspoon.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-taste-of-figs.html


    And this one below came from http://www.italymagazine.com/forums/food-drink/3456-fruit-liqueur-recipes.html

I found this a few months ago. The delivery truck was delivering in my neighborhood in NJ.

http://www.figenzavodka.com/home/

Gene,

When I came back from Costa Rica a few years back, I bought back a few of the favorite local bottles.  Just wrap it up really well in T-shirts.  You might have to declare it?  I don't recall for sure.  Either way, my 3 bottles of drink made it back to the states just fine tucked away in my luggage.  Worst case scenario...stained (but newly sterilized!) clothes :-D

Wow, sounds like you're having a great time there. I'll add Malta to one of the places to visit! :)

AWESOME Gene

Gene.....You Lucky Dog! Have a great time Bud! : )

Hi Malta is great , u have these in the duty free shops there .

Enjoy malta and dont forget to visit the baraka gardens .

You can make fig brandy too. I made some with dried figs. I didn't reconstitute them though, just diced them up and added to a bottle of brandy after drinking a 'bit' to make room. It's very tasty.