Sycamore figs candied in honey and cinnamon
Figs simmered in honey until tender and glossy, perfumed with cinnamon and a splash of fig vinegar — a festive sweet, sweet-tart, to be offered or enjoyed after bread.
Figs simmered in honey until tender and glossy, perfumed with cinnamon and a splash of fig vinegar — a festive sweet, sweet-tart, to be offered or enjoyed after bread.
Do you see that great sycamore near my temple? It is my tree, and from its branches I offer the dead fresh water and ripe fig. My servants take the heaviest figs, lay them in warm honey with a hint of fragrant bark from the lands of the East, and let them drink until they become amber. Eat them without fear: whoever tastes the sweetness of Hathor no longer fears crossing the horizon.
- •Fresh or dried figs — a full cup (base)
- •Honey — generously (syrup)
- •Cinnamon (imported cinnamon bark) — a shard (perfume)
- •Fig or wine vinegar — a few drops (acidity)
- •Water — a little (to thin the syrup)
Sycamore figs candied in honey and cinnamon
Figs simmered in honey until tender and glossy, perfumed with cinnamon and a splash of fig vinegar — a festive sweet, sweet-tart, to be offered or enjoyed after bread.
Why this dish? Hathor is "lady of the sycamore," the tree whose branches she parts to offer the deceased water and figs in the afterlife. The sweet fig, placed as an offering, is her fruit par excellence: sweetness, fertility, and maternal welcome of the dead.
Do you see that great sycamore near my temple? It is my tree, and from its branches I offer the dead fresh water and ripe fig. My servants take the heaviest figs, lay them in warm honey with a hint of fragrant bark from the lands of the East, and let them drink until they become amber. Eat them without fear: whoever tastes the sweetness of Hathor no longer fears crossing the horizon.
Ingredients (period version)
- Fresh or dried figs — a full cup (base)
- Honey — generously (syrup)
- Cinnamon (imported cinnamon bark) — a shard (perfume)
- Fig or wine vinegar — a few drops (acidity)
- Water — a little (to thin the syrup)
Ingredients
- Fresh figs (or rehydrated dried figs) — 12 figs (base)
- Honey — 120 g (syrup)
- Cinnamon stick — 1 (perfume)
- Wine vinegar (or fig vinegar) — 1 tbsp (acidity)
- Water — 100 ml (syrup)
- Toasted sesame seeds — 1 tbsp (finish)
Method
- In a saucepan, heat the honey, water, vinegar, and cinnamon stick until simmering.
- Add the whole figs (stemmed) and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, turning them delicately.
- When the figs are tender and the syrup coats them, remove from heat and let cool in the syrup.
- Arrange the glossy figs, drizzle with syrup, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
- Serve warm or cold, alone or with fresh cheese.
How it was made : Common figs and sycamore figs were everyday fruits in Egypt, dried in strings for the year and offered to gods and the dead. Honey, the main sweetener (cane sugar was unknown), was used to candy fruits. Cinnamon, imported at great expense via the incense routes, remained a luxury reserved for temples and elites — hence its rightful place in an offering to a great goddess.
The contemporary twist : Serve on a slate with a quenelle of fresh goat cheese and a few edible marigold petals, "Hathor's garden" style.
Sources : Pierre Tallet, Histoire de la cuisine et de la gastronomie égyptiennes · William J. Darby, Paul Ghalioungui & Louis Grivetti, Food: The Gift of Osiris (1977)
Hathor · Charactorium