How To Prolong Figs’ Shelf Life in The Rainy Season

Challenges Of Harvesting Soft Fruits in Wet Summer

Soft fruits such as figs, pawpaws, guavas, mangoes, grapes, and tomatoes spoil quickly in hot and humid environments, threatening food security. Air drying is ineffective in high humidity since the fruit may ferment instead of adequately drying. Freezing is a reliable option; however, an unreliable power supply could lead to food loss after only a few days of interrupted power supply, assuming a dependable freezer is owned.

Prolonging Figs’ Shelf Life in The Rainy Season

Keeping fruits fresh for more extended periods is essential. Although refrigeration is an option, it can be expensive for low-income areas with limited resources. Here are some practical tips to increase the shelf life of figs that can also be applied to other fruits.

Diversity Of Fig Varieties

Grow fig varieties with lower water content, such as LSU, Celeste, and Tena, to avoid damage from rain and reduce the likelihood of shrivelling and drying on the tree. Harvest these types before the next rainfall; they will stay fresh for several days.
Growing figs with a closed ostiole (hole) will not allow water to enter the fruits and cause souring when it rains. Such fruits will remain sour when the rains stop.

In this case other varieties are suitable for the different seasons, so diversity is ideal rather than limiting your options.

Fig varieties harvested in January and February.

Ripe green figs — The green fig is the most abundant variety from February to March. surpasses LSU cumulatively as they year progresses.

Ripe green fig — The green fig is the most abundant variety from February to March. surpasses LSU cumulatively as they year progresses.

Green figs on a tree — Ripe green figs after heavy rain. They may crack but remain sweet. They are worth sitting under a tree to eat figs.

Ripe figs on a tree — Another fig variety from Israel perfectly ripe with ideal cracking on the skin without cracking of the flesh. It also has a closed ostiole.

Figs in a trees — Fig variety cracking after heavy downpour.

Keeping Fruits Dry

Consider not washing the fruits until use or advise customers to wash them before consuming them. This is because washing the fruits may:
- Bruise the skin and allow microbes to cause spoiling.
- Allow water to enter the ostiole.
- Create localized humidity that attracts fungus and rotting.
If the fruits are washed:
- Place them with the (ostiole) hole of the fig facing downwards so any water will drain out. Place a paper towel at the base to absorb any excess water. When dry, the fruits must be well-spaced and aerated on a metal rack with large spaces. They are more likely to shrivel and concentrate on the flavours than rot.
- Refrigerate the fruits when possible.

Preserving Fig Through Cooking

Another option to preserve soft fruits for extended periods is cooking them to make jam. Making jam can be costly when the amount of sugar needed to make it set. However, figs have high levels of pectin that require minimal amounts of sugar to set or taste sweet. The figs can be added to other soft fruits to make mixed fruit jams with less sugar and pectin required, which lowers the jam-making cost and the number of calories in the jam.
Roasting or grilling figs makes tasty, healthy desserts. The figs can be picked before full ripening, which increases their shelf life. The resulting bland flavour can be brought out by roasting the figs to release the sticky sugars with the fruits.

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