Cooking with Figs
Recipes with Figs — Fresh and Dried Sweetness in Moroccan Cooking
Figs (karmous) are a cherished fruit in Morocco, eaten fresh and honeyed in late summer and dried into chewy sweetness for the rest of the year. Fig trees shade gardens and line country roads, and the fruit finds its way into sweet-savoury tagines, compotes, breakfast tables and the tea tray. Dried figs, like other dried fruit, enrich slow-cooked meat, while fresh figs are best enjoyed simply. This guide covers figs in both forms, the Moroccan dishes they suit, how to use fresh versus dried, and how to buy and store them well.
How Moroccans use figs
Figs are used fresh in season and dried year-round. Fresh figs, sweet and delicate, are mostly eaten out of hand, with the tea tray, or in simple salads and with fresh cheese, since cooking can spoil their fragile texture. Dried figs are the workhorse for cooking: plumped and simmered into sweet-savoury lamb tagines much like prunes, stewed into compotes, and chopped into sweets and breakfast dishes. Their concentrated sweetness and slight seediness give body to a sauce. Figs pair naturally with warm spice, honey, walnuts and almonds in the Moroccan sweet-savoury idiom.
The best Moroccan recipes with figs
Lamb or beef tagine with dried figs — the figs plumped and simmered into a sweet, spiced sauce, often with almonds. Dried fig and walnut compote scented with cinnamon and orange blossom water. Fresh fig and fresh cheese with a trickle of honey and argan oil. Figs on the tea tray, dried and whole. Fig-stuffed pastries and sweets. Start with a dried fig tagine, treating the figs as you would prunes — plumped, then added toward the end so they soften into the sauce without disintegrating.
Fresh versus dried, and how to use them
Treat the two forms differently. Fresh figs are fragile and best raw or barely warmed — ripe when they are soft, heavy and slightly split, and quick to spoil, so use them at once. Dried figs for cooking benefit from a soak or gentle simmer in water (or tea) to plump before use; add them to a tagine toward the end so they hold their shape. Snip off any hard stalk. Their sweetness means they balance rich lamb and warm spice beautifully, and a handful of toasted walnuts or almonds adds welcome crunch against their soft, jammy texture.
Buying and storing figs
For fresh figs in late summer, choose plump, soft, heavy fruit with unbroken skin and a sweet scent at the base — they bruise and ferment fast, so buy only what you will eat within a day or two and keep them cool. For dried figs, choose soft, pliable ones with a little natural bloom, avoiding hard, dry specimens; they are sold loose by weight in the souk. Store dried figs airtight in a cool place, where they keep for months, and refresh any that harden with a short soak. Fresh figs do not keep, so enjoy them at their fleeting peak.
Cook's tips
- Enjoy fresh figs raw or barely warmed — cooking spoils their fragile texture.
- Plump dried figs with a soak or gentle simmer before adding to a tagine.
- Add dried figs toward the end so they keep their shape in the sauce.
- Snip off hard stalks, and pair figs with toasted walnuts or almonds for crunch.
- Fresh figs bruise fast — buy only what you'll eat in a day or two and keep cool.
Questions about cooking with Figs
Can I use fresh figs in a tagine?
It is better to use dried figs for tagines, since fresh figs are fragile and tend to collapse when cooked. Dried figs, plumped first, hold their shape and give the concentrated sweetness a sweet-savoury sauce wants. Enjoy fresh figs raw instead — with cheese, honey and nuts, or simply on their own at their late-summer peak.
How do I use dried figs in cooking?
Snip off any hard stalk, then plump the figs with a soak or gentle simmer in water or tea so they soften. Add them to a lamb or beef tagine toward the end of cooking, as you would prunes, so they warm through and release sweetness without disintegrating. They also stew into compotes and enrich sweets and breakfast dishes.
When are fresh figs in season in Morocco?
Fresh figs come mainly in late summer into early autumn, when fig trees across the country bear their sweet, honeyed fruit. This is the time to eat them raw at their best. For the rest of the year, dried figs carry the flavour, appearing in tagines, compotes, sweets and on the tea tray alongside dates and nuts.
What do figs pair well with in Moroccan food?
Figs love warm spices like cinnamon, plus honey, orange blossom water, walnuts and almonds. In savoury cooking their sweetness balances rich lamb and beef, much like prunes. Fresh figs pair beautifully with fresh cheese, honey and a trickle of argan oil. The contrast of soft figs against crunchy toasted nuts is especially good.
How do I store dried figs?
Keep dried figs airtight in a cool, dry place, where they last for months. If they harden over time, a short soak in warm water or tea softens them again. Choose soft, pliable figs when buying, and store them away from strong smells. Fresh figs, by contrast, do not keep and should be eaten within a day or two.
Cook these dishes with a local in Marrakech
Learn to handle figs the Moroccan way in a hands-on cooking class, or taste it across the medina on a guided food tour.