Artisan Parfumeur's Premier Figuier Extreme: Figs for Dessert

L'Artisan Parfumeur's Premier Figuier Extreme.  Photo: Kneale Culbreath

Are you a sweet person or a savory person?  If I had to pick sweet or savory as my go-to for a treat, sweet wins out every time.  Never mind that 'cheese' was my first word, and when I was little I could easily snack on olives, pickles, and saltine crackers all day.  But if I had to choose as a child, I really loved sweet things: a homemade brownie. Nutella on a baguette.  Pie.  But a plate of figs? This would not be my choice, even though I loved fruit.  Fig Newtons, yes. Plain figs? No.  I loved Fig Newtons because they smelled of vanilla and the biscuit exterior was as soft as velvet.  From my view as a sugar-obsessed kid, fresh figs seemed more like a punishment than a treat.  Full of seeds and no cookie? I don't think so.  So good for you and full of fiber, too! I would have rather eaten a box of raisins or a sweet-tart Granny Smith apple.

Despite my early dislike of plain figs, my tastes changed as an adult and I grew to love the fruit. I love the tiny, crunchy seeds and the vanilla-sweetness of the fruit. I became something of a fig fan, especially for fig scents. I discovered a few fig perfumes that really make me happy: Diptyque's Philosykos (and the matching candle), which to me smells like a fresh fig crushed with the leaves, sap, bark, and earth; Pacifica's Mediterranean Fig, a plain, unornamented fig; Body Time's Green Fig Oil, smells of green dried figs, quite heady and rich; and Olivia Giacobetti's L'Artisan Parfumeur's Premier Figuier, the first fig perfume in which fig leaves are combined with almond milk and sandalwood. 

The follow up to L'Artisan's Premier Figuier, Premier Figuier Extreme, is for sweet lovers. I translate Extreme to mean concentrated. After the first spray, I get a blast of intense fig, followed by coconut and almond milk.  The perfume also includes notes of fig leaves, gorse flower, stone pine, and dried fruits.  Instead of thinking of Premier Figuier Extreme as a concentrated version of the original, drier fig, I think of Extreme as the dessert version of Premier Figuier, where the sweet notes of coconut and almond are the strongest.  This perfume is a decadent treat and a little goes a long way.

I think Gordon Ramsay's "Fig and Frangipane Tart" is a fitting dessert to try, with all the appropriate ingredients: figs, almonds, and cream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0T8Nq07PY