For Delicious Gourmet Pizza, Canned Figs Are Just As Good As Fresh

Not all fruit on pizza is as controversial as pineapple. Italians might have strong feelings about the tropical topping, but when it comes to other fruits, especially figs, it's fair game. In Rome, people have served figs on white pizza and focaccia for generations, and today, it's still a popular street food. Figs come into season twice in the summer, which means they're usually plentiful if you live in an area where they grow. In figless climates, however, you're at the whim of your grocery store's availability. If you want to make a pizza with figs like the Italians do, but you can't find fresh figs, even in the high season, don't sweat it. Canned figs work just as well.

Canned figs don't have quite the same texture as fresh figs. But once you bake everything in a pizza oven at high temperatures, fresh figs lose a lot of their structure. Canned figs are a perfectly fine substitute if you can't source any fresh fruit. 

And if you have a source of fresh figs, be sure to can some extras for later. Fig season is only in the summer, and if you have a stash of canned figs, you can use them year-round when you need a white pizza fix.

Figs are subtropical fruits that are native to the Mediterranean region and have been eaten for thousands of years. In fact, they're likely humans' "first cultivated fruit," according to The New York Times. So it stands to reason that once humans figured out how to make pizza, which historians think could be as far back as the sixth century, that figs probably showed up on lots of flatbreads in some shape or form in ancient times.

You don't have to go to Rome for fig pizza, of course. All you need to make an authentic pie is some pizza dough; five or six figs fresh or canned figs; grated cheese for melting, such as mozzarella or fontina; crumbled cheese for flavor, such as gorgonzola or chevre; a few ounces of caramelized onions; and a few thin slices of prosciutto. Topping the baked pizza with arugula is also a nice finish. That's right, no tomato sauce on this pizza — traditional fig pizza in Rome is pizza bianca (white pizza). 

While it won't have the acidic zip of tomato sauce, a white pizza with figs, prosciutto, blue cheese and sweet onions creates an ethereal combination of sweet and savory. It's perfect when it's served cut up into small bites as an appetizer for a party, or for the main course with a glass of cold rosé.

Figs notoriously don't travel well, which is why they can be hard to find even during fig harvest season, which happens in early June and then again from late August through October. Most of the figs sold in grocery stores in the US come from California or Texas; the farther away you are from the Golden and Lone Star states, the less chance you'll have of finding figs in the produce section. 

If you're not sure if any grocery stores around you have figs in stock, check your favorite grocery delivery app to see if they're available, and then head to the store. (You'll want to check out the figs in person before you buy them to make sure they're not bruised.) If you live in fig country, you'll have better luck sourcing your fruit from a local farm stand or farmer's market. It's also possible to grow your own figs in a variety of climates. However, the trees are a little finicky, and they take a few years to produce fruit.

If you can't find any figs, either fresh or canned, don't give up on fig pizza. You can still get the sweet, earthiness of figs by using a little bit of high-quality fig jam or preserves in place of the fruit. As long as you get that sweet and savory combination, it'll be the next best thing to a trip to Italy.