When I first discovered stinging nettles, I became quietly obsessed — dreaming up ways to fold the wild weed into both sweet and savory cooking. I spent hours carefully plucking the leaves, blanching them to soften their sting, and experimenting with their deep green flavor. Fig leaves have since become a similar fixation.
Their flavor is green and herbaceous, with soft notes of fig, coconut, and vanilla. I began infusing the leaves into ice cream, panna cotta, and crème brûlée, blending them into oil to swirl through buttercream or drizzle over ripe summer tomatoes. As the season begins to close, I’ve been toasting the leaves and stirring them into sugar, tucking it away for later.
How to use fig leaf powder and sugar
– Rolled on donuts and morning buns
– Shortbread and sugar cookies
– Simple cakes
Other ways to use fig leaves
– Infused into custards: ice cream, panna cotta, crème brûlée, whipped cream
– Steeped in simple syrup or honey; stirred into jam
– Paired with stone fruits like cherries, apricots, peaches, and plums
– Used to wrap fish (salmon or white fish) or baked cheeses such as feta and chèvre
– Added to curry or steamed rice
– Blanched and blended into oil for buttercreams and salad dressings (especially lovely with sun-kissed tomatoes and summer melon)
Fig Leaf Powder & Sugar
Ingredients
Instructions
Collect as many fig leaves as you can find. I like to make a big batch of powder.
Line a few baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 250. Wash and dry the fig leaves. Spread them out on a single layer onto the prepared sheets, it’s ok if they overlap a little but they will dry out more evenly if they are not piled on top of each other. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the leaves are crisp and dry. They should smell toasty and fragrent. Remove the stems and blend in a spice grinder or food processor. Sift the mixture and blitz again, repeating this process 2-3 times until the powder is very fine dust. Store in an airtight container.
To make fig leaf sugar
Combine 2-3 teaspoons of powder with 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar.
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