Fig Jam
I have friends who have numerous fig trees, and they brought me a huge colander full of ripe black figs the other day. It’s impossible to eat all of them fresh, so I like to make this easy fig jam. The nice thing about this jam is that it’s not too sweet because you don’t need to add any sugar. Figs are naturally sweet. The only things I add are the juice of one or two fresh lemons, a touch of kosher salt, and water as needed to break down the skins, and get the jam to cook to a smooth consistency.
The hardest part about this is washing and sterilizing the jars and lids, and then processing the jars once they’re filled. It’s fun though, and feels very scientific.
I used very small jars so I could have treats to give to neighbors and friends, and so I didn’t have to break out the huge canning pot. I just used a basic spaghetti pot to process these jars, with a metal trivet at the bottom so the jars wouldn’t touch the pot and possibly break.
Canning is a bit dangerous with all that boiling water and hot temps, so please be careful when you do this.
For the jam: Wash and chop fresh black figs. Add to a large pan, along with the juice of 1 large lemon, 1/2 cup water, and a pinch of kosher salt. Cook on low, stirring as often as you can so that it doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan. I used my large, low Le Cruset dutch oven thing (we found ours on sale, this amazon price is way high) This type of enamel lined pan works great for this because all the moisture evaporates quickly and you can get a nice jam consistency, a stainless skillet would work well too. After cooking and stirring for a few minutes you can start to smash the skins down with a potato masher, but you don’t have to.
Cook for about 30 minutes, adding a splash of water here and there as needed so it doesn’t get too thick and caramelized.
Wash jars and lids. Start a pot of water to boil. Once it’s boiling, use tongs to gently place the jars in the boiling water for a few minutes to sterilize. Lift them out, and place on a clean kitchen towel on the counter. Fill the jars with the jam, carefully wipe the rims with a clean paper towel or cloth. Sterilize the lids using the lid holder thingy, use the magnet thing to place the lid on the jar without touching the inside of it, (this is to keep everything free of any bacteria on your fingertips), place the rings in the boiling water for a couple minutes, use the tongs to remove them and place on the jars. At this point you just want to loosely secure the rings, don’t screw them down super tight, that way, the air can escape from the jar in the water bath process. The air escaping helps to secure the lid nice and tight when you take them out to cool. I love Science.
Reduce the heat on the stove for a minute so you don’t get too hot doing this part, use the jar lifter to gently lower the jars into the pot and onto whatever metal trivet or rack is in the bottom of the pot. Add as many jars as you can without them touching each other, or the sides of the pot. Increase heat back to boil, let the jars boil in the water bath for ten minutes to seal them. Once ten minutes (or longer for larger jars) is up, reduce heat, carefully lift out the jars with the jar lifter and place them on the kitchen towel to cool. You should hear each lid make a ‘pop’ as it goes all convex. This is one of the best parts about making jam, the pop is pretty cool.
Sorry, This is so long. But I wanted to be detailed in case you have never made and jarred jam before. Enjoy!