SEGGIANO FIG BALLS

Sweet, soft Dottato figs from Calabria, slow-baked for 4 hours, shaped by hand and wrapped in fig leaves. Pair with soft dolce pecorino cheese for a marriage made in heaven. The sweet, sticky fig paste is delicious with sharp, zesty cheeses such as a good Parmesan or Pecorino. The Seggiano Fig Ball comes from Cosenza, Calabria, in southern Italy.

It is a delicious and traditionally ingenious way of preserving the juicy dottato variety of figs, which have tender skins, soft seeds and are unique to the region. The figs are pickled when plump and air-dried under nets before cooking for eighteen hours at a very low temperature. By this time they are sticky with caramelised fig juices.