Don't Waste Unripe Figs or Fig Leaves: Fig Leaf Tea, Syrup & Green Fig Preserves
Don't throw away your unripe figs or your fig leaves. Your fig tree is a whole pantry, not just a fruit tree.
Hey there, fig lovers! I'm Ross, the "Fig Boss," and in roughly 10 years of growing fig trees, I never gave much credit to the leaves. That changed this year, when I experimented with creating fig leaf tea, fig leaf syrup, preserves, dried figs, jam, and even fig "coffee." It turns out, the leaves and unripe figs can create some incredible treats.
After reading this article, you'll know how to make use of every part of your fig tree, to make the best out of even the worst growing season.
Below are my exact ratios for fig leaf tea and fig leaf syrup, my two-day method for unripe green figs in syrup, fridge-dried figs, jam tips, and the store-bought fig products I actually like. Half of these don't even need a ripe fig.
The Worst Season in a Decade Left Me With Green Figs
If your tree is loaded with hard green figs at the end of the season, you're not alone, and they're not a waste.
For many of us in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, 2026 was the worst fig-growing season in about a decade. We had the worst winter in a decade (extreme winter lows) followed by the worst late frost in a decade, so our trees got a very late start. Some trees fruited from total dieback, but plenty of figs won't ripen before our first hard freeze.
So before the trees go dormant, can we use this stuff? If your figs stalled out, read why figs fail to ripen, and for short seasons, look at late ripening fig varieties that handle a cold fall in stride.
Harvest Safely: Fig Sap Burns (Seriously)
Fig sap is a latex-based, oil-based sap. Treat it like poison ivy you can't see.
I know some of you think you're a superhero. This sap will likely burn your skin. Once rubbed in, it's mostly clear, so it can sit on your skin unnoticed, and because it's oil-based, the only real way to remove it is a degreasing soap.
Key: Wear long sleeves and gloves.
Leaves: You can pull them or cut them. Either way, you're probably not going to damage your tree.
Unripe figs: Twist them off so the stem stays on the tree. Green figs leak a lot of sap.
Myth check: Some say removing unripe figs helps the rest ripen faster. I don't see it. Any improvement is very minimal.
Pro tips:
You can harvest leaves any time, but wait until later in the year, because the tree needs them early on to help your fig tree fruit and produce high-quality fruit.
Severe winter damage or hard pruning may result in a fig tree producing little fruit, but endless leaves.
For harvesting ripe fruit, see how and when to harvest figs.
By late October, many leaves carry frost damage and rust, so pick the cleanest ones. Here's how to treat fig rust.
Drying Fig Leaves (and Using Them Fresh)
Wash first, then dry low and slow. Fig leaves don't need much heat.
Wash them.
Counter-dry: Just let them sit out on your counter. They'll naturally dry.
Oven: A short roast. I suspect it brings out more flavor, but I haven't proven it.
Dehydrator: Use the lowest setting and lowest temperature. With a little time, they crisp up real nice.
Fresh leaves are useful too. Anything you can do with a grape leaf, you can do with a fig leaf. If you're putting fish in the oven, wrap it in fig leaves. Fresh leaves can also be used for infusions.
Fig Leaf Tea: The Most Underrated Herbal Tea
My ratio: 1 teaspoon of dried fig leaves per 8 ounces of water, just off the boil, steeped for at least 5 minutes.
Boil, turn it off, and pour. I brew in a tea kettle with a built-in infuser. Crumble the leaves smaller for more flavor, just like grind size with coffee.
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Every Variety's Leaves Taste Different
Shout out to my friend Ale, who brought home dried fig leaves from La Maison de la Figue in France. We had leaves from Abicou (another name for Black Mission), Marseillaise, and Grise de St. Jean. They smell very different, and when Ale and I tested them, they brewed and tasted different too.
Fig leaf flavor is often described as coconut and almond. To me, the tea itself is a little smoky and a little resinous. We also noticed the flavor changes dramatically as it cools.
If you want your own leaf supply from those French varieties, I sell Grise de St. Jean (Loretta) fig trees and Marseillaise fig trees. Browse every variety's profile in the Fig Variety Directory.
My verdict: fig leaf tea is one of the best herbal teas out there, up there with lemon verbena, basil, lemon balm, chamomile, and mint. Fig leaves are also often talked about as beneficial for those with diabetes. I'm not a doctor, so talk to yours. It's a great tea on taste alone.
Fig Leaf Syrup: Bottle That Coconut-Almond Flavor
Make the tea first, then use that infused water to make a syrup. That's the smart way to do it.
The standard rich syrup ratio is 2 parts sugar to 1 part water (2 cups sugar to 1 cup water), demerara-style, for a thick syrup. A 1:1 ratio gives a thinner syrup, and white sugar is fine.
Best method: Use your fig leaf tea as the syrup water. (I did this out of order in the video.)
Alternate method: Steep washed whole leaves in the syrup as it cooks, then lift them out. Straining is messy.
Use it in cocktails, or make fig leaf ice cream. If you have a Ninja Creami, it's very simple, including low-sugar versions. Anything that takes syrup works.
For comparison, the Liber & Co. Caramelized Fig Syrup is a great cocktail syrup, but it's made from the fruit (California Black Mission and Calimyrna), not the leaves. Very different product.
Unripe Green Figs in Syrup: My New Favorite Thing
The hard, green, unripe figs are the perfect figs for preserving in syrup. Pick them before they start to swell.
They seem flavorless now, but cook them down, and you'll be impressed. It's roughly a two-day process. This is the method I was recommended and read about. It may not be perfect, but it works.
Pick: Choose hard, green figs that haven't started to swell. Twist them off so the stems stay on the tree.
Prick: Run a toothpick through each fig on several sides so the sap can leak out.
Blanch #1: Cover with water, bring to a boil, and cook for about 4 minutes. Discard the water.
Blanch #2: Repeat with fresh water, ~4 minutes, and discard again. Now they're the right color and already edible.
Syrup: Add a 2:1 sugar-to-water syrup to the pan and boil for about 4 more minutes.
Rest: Let them sit overnight. Next day, add sugar or water and cook it down to the thickness you like.
The resinous latex flavor is bitter, and two blanchings pull it out. Start firm, since they cook about 12 minutes total.
The results blew me away. They stay firm, with a very unique flavor, and some have a berry note. An underripe De la Senyora Blanca was unbelievably red inside, with real fig flavor. I've wasted so many of these over the years.
Unripe vs. Ripe Figs in Syrup
For years, I froze my worst end-of-season ripe figs and preserved them in syrup later, like most people probably do. Tasted next to the new batch, the ripe ones are very soft, while the unripe ones are firm and totally different. Unripe is a million times better. You can also pickle unripe figs for something savory.
Ripe Figs: Dry Them Slowly in the Fridge
Every year I dry figs in the fridge, not in the dehydrator or the oven. The slower they dry, the better they are.
The best way to dry any fruit, as long as it doesn't spoil or attract insects, is in the sun or slowly in the fridge:
Start with quality: Use the highest quality figs you have.
Halve: Cut them in half. The Cutco knife I recommend for figs makes clean cuts.
Plate: Place them skin-side down on a paper-lined plate. Everything must be absolutely dry to prevent mold.
Flip: Turn them every couple of days so both sides dry.
Wait: In about 3 weeks, they're fully dried and transformed.
You can get some mold, but the result beats a dehydrator. And remember, figs do not ripen after you pick them. What changes them is water evaporating out. For more methods, see my complete guide to dried figs.
Bonus: Hoshigaki for Persimmon Growers
Same slow-drying principle, and my favorite way to eat persimmons: peel, blanch for one minute, string them up, and run a ceiling fan 24/7 for 20 to 30 days. Better than dates, better than dried figs.
Fig Jam: Peel, Trim, and Blend
Jam is water, sugar, and figs, cooked down. Unripe skin has off-putting, resinous flavors, so peel it. Very ripe, high quality figs may not need peeling. I use my worst figs for jam, because the good ones I just want to eat.
People tell me, "My variety is so easy to peel!" It's easy to peel because it's not ripe. Between the skin and pulp is the white pith, which shrinks as the fig ripens, so underripe figs peel easily.
Trim: Cut out the stems.
Peel: Remove as much skin as you can.
Blend: Run an immersion blender through it for one uniform texture, no lumps.
Store-Bought Fig Treats Worth Your Money
I'm a cook, not a baker. I don't like following recipes, so for fig cookies, I buy them.
Pamela's fig cookies: Thanks again, Ally. Pamela's Figgies & Jammies are my perfect fig newton. Fig puree is the first ingredient, they're gluten-free, one cookie is 90 calories, and they're moist like a real fig.
La Maison de la Figue fig syrup: Also fruit-based, with 18% sugar and 2% citrus. Very sweet, but you can almost sip it straight.
FigBrew: The Closest Thing to Coffee Without Caffeine
FigBrew is a small business in Alabama. Full disclosure: they sent me this for free. It's just organic roasted figs, ground like coffee, so there's no caffeine. I'd guess Turkish figs by the taste.
I didn't enjoy it at ½ or 1 teaspoon (haven't tried 2). For the closest thing to coffee, use ½ tablespoon (1½ teaspoons) per 8 ounces of water.
Pre-warm your French press with some really hot water.
Measure your water for an exact ratio.
Add the grounds, pour in just-boiled water, and let it steep 4–5 minutes.
Press and pour.
