Anjeer is one of the more expensive items in an Indian dry fruit shop, and one of the few where the price difference between two packets is visible if you know what to look for. Size, colour, softness and how the fig was dried all move the price, and almost none of it appears on the label.

This is what to check before ordering dried figs online.

First, anjeer is a fig, not a date

People mix these up constantly. Anjeer is a dried fig: round and flattened, pale brown to golden, with a stalk at the top and hundreds of tiny crunchy seeds inside. Khajoor is a date: oval, smooth, dark, sticky, with one long stone. Different fruit, different tree, different taste.

Sizes and grades

Dried figs are sold by size, usually counted as pieces per kilogram. There is no single national standard, so sellers use their own words, but the pattern is consistent:

Size is an appearance grade, not a taste grade. A medium fig from a good lot tastes the same as a jumbo one from the same lot. If the figs are going into a milkshake or a laddu, buying jumbo is paying for something you are about to chop up.

The everyday grade

Dried Figs (Anjeer), Medium

White figs, medium size. The sensible grade for soaking and daily eating rather than for display.

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White figs and dark figs

Dried figs come in two broad types. White or golden figs are pale, soft and mild, and are what most Indian shops sell as anjeer. Dark or black figs are deeper in colour, chewier and more intensely sweet. Neither is better; the pale ones are the familiar ones here.

Within pale figs, colour tells you something about processing. Sulphur dioxide is sometimes used to keep dried fruit light and bright. It is a permitted treatment, but a very uniform, almost yellow fig is likelier to have had help, while an untreated fig is a softer, duller, more varied brown.

The white powder is not mould

Dried figs frequently develop a fine white coating. Almost always this is natural fruit sugar that has crystallised on the surface as the fig dried: harmless, and in fact a sign of a sugary, well-dried fruit.

Tell them apart like this:

• Sugar bloom: dry, powdery or crystalline, evenly spread, smells of fig. Brush it and it comes off as powder.
• Mould: fuzzy and raised, in patches rather than spread evenly, often greenish or grey, with a musty smell.

If it is mould, discard the pack and tell the seller. If it is bloom, eat the fig.

What to check before buying

1. Softness. A good dried fig gives slightly when pressed. Rock-hard figs are old or over-dried. They can be soaked back, but you should not pay a premium for them.
2. Whole, with the stalk. Broken or split figs are usually a lower grade.
3. Not sticky-wet. Figs should be tacky, not damp. Damp figs spoil.
4. Smell. Sweet and jammy. Sour or fermented means moisture got in.
5. Grade and count stated. Jumbo, medium or small, ideally with pieces per kilo.
6. Packing date. Figs keep, but they harden with age.
7. Origin. Most anjeer in India is imported, chiefly from Afghanistan and Turkey, with some grown in Maharashtra. A seller should name it.

How to use them

• Soaked: two or three figs in water overnight, eaten in the morning with the soaking water. This is the most common way anjeer is eaten in India, and it also fixes figs that have gone hard.
• In milk: simmered briefly, or blended into a shake with a few almonds.
• Chopped into sweets: anjeer barfi, laddu, halwa. Buy the small grade for this.
• In baking: chopped into cakes, cookies and granola.
• Plain: whole, as a snack. Here the grade is worth paying for.
• With cheese or on a board: figs and strong cheese is a classic pairing worth trying once.

A note worth stating plainly: anjeer is naturally high in sugar, as all concentrated dried fruit is. It is food, not medicine, and we make no health claims about it. Anyone managing a dietary condition should ask their doctor rather than a shop.

Storing figs

• Airtight container, cool and dark. Figs harden fast in open air.
• In summer and the monsoon, the fridge. They keep for months there.
• Do not store them loose with nuts. Figs carry moisture and will soften almonds and walnuts.
• Hardened figs are not wasted: soak them for an hour, or simmer them in a little milk.

The full shelf-life table is in how to store Kashmiri dry fruits.

Why anjeer costs what it does

Figs are picked ripe and dried whole, losing most of their weight as water, and most of what India eats is imported, so freight and duty sit on top. Larger grades cost more because fewer figs make a kilo and bigger fruit is selected out by hand. The way to spend less is not to find cheaper figs but to buy the grade that matches the job: small or medium for anything you chop, larger only when the fig is served whole. The general version of that argument is in dry fruit prices in India.

Buying from us

Our dried figs are white figs in a medium grade, in the figs collection. Figs are not a Kashmiri crop and we do not claim otherwise. For the current lot's size or a photo before you order, message us on WhatsApp. The general checks for any dry fruit seller are in how to buy Kashmiri dry fruits online.

Common questions

What is anjeer in English?

Fig. Anjeer is the dried fig sold in Indian dry fruit shops.

Is anjeer the same as khajoor?

No. Anjeer is a fig, round and seedy. Khajoor is a date, oval with a single stone.

What is the white powder on dried figs?

Usually natural fruit sugar that has crystallised on the surface. Mould is fuzzy, patchy and smells musty; sugar bloom is dry, even and smells of fig.

Should anjeer be soaked before eating?

It does not have to be, but soaking two or three overnight is the common Indian practice and it softens figs that have hardened.

Which size of anjeer should I buy?

Jumbo for gifting and eating whole, medium for everyday, small for chopping into sweets and baking.

Why are my figs hard?

Age or air. Soak them in water for an hour, or simmer them in milk.