Fresh Figs- Another California Treat

Just like my post yesterday about how nice it is to have access to fresh Rosemary, another fruit I’ve missed is fresh figs. (It’s almost as though being gone for a while gave me an even greater appreciation for all the fresh produce we have here, year round!). While we often think of the high sugar content of dried figs, as all dried fruit is more concentrated that their fresh counterpart and therefore higher in sugar, fresh figs (fresh anything!) are lower on the glycemic index scale. A fresh fig has a glycemic load of 4, while a dried fig ranks in at 26! Adding a few fresh figs from your tree in the backyard to a salad of arugula, avocado, olive oil and raw walnuts creates a lovely way to start a meal, compared to chomping down a handful of dried figs as a snack, the latter of which would be definite grounds for creating a sugar crash! In addition to tasting great, figs are also a good source of Vitamin K, potassium and magnesium. Eat ’em up now while they’re fresh, rather than waiting for the holidays during which they’re featured in a host of baked concoctions from fruitcake to Christmas pudding, both of which are very, very far from True Paleo.