Guest Blogger Debbie Moose says:

I am crazy for figs. Most of the time, this love is like being back in high school, infatuated with the football quarterback, and longing for even the tiniest glance.

Figs are old-fashioned plants not widely installed in suburban yards. They sprawl as they grow and need sun, which I have little of in my yard. On the rare occasions that I can purchase figs, they’re priced like gems.

This all means that I must beg for figs from friends, neighbors and perfect strangers, (often little old ladies with giant fig bushes who want to talk for half a day while I’m trying to pick; but I will do a lot for figs).

Even with shameless pleading I usually end up with a handful of figs here, a few there; enough for a scanty bag in my freezer by late summer. Barely sufficient for a few precious jars of jam. The past few seasons here have been particularly hard on my devotion, when drought withered most fruit crops including figs.

But this year - whoa. I have declared 2009 The Year of the Fig.

Maybe it was the wet spring or perhaps the phase of the moon but figs have been everywhere this summer. I’ve gotten calls - often three or four - from my usual fig sources, this time begging me to come get them. Friends of friends have called with gallons of figs. I caught up with an old friend from elementary school over, yes, picking figs from her groaning bush.

My freezer contains about 10 quart bags of the lovely orbs. I actually ate some fresh in the classic way, wrapped in prosciutto and drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice. For lunch, figs with fresh mozzarella and maybe just a little more prosciutto (pork makes everything better).

And I have the luxury this year of indulging my imagination, rather than funneling all my figs into my classic jam. Fig preserves infused with vanilla...spiced fig jam...pickled whole figs...fig chutney...

Ah, to be middle-aged and in love with figs. Who needs that stinkin’ quarterback?

Debbie Moose is the author of four cookbooks. Her latest is “Potato Salad: 65 Recipes from Classic to Cool.” Check out her blog,  Moose Musings.