Is this not the most beautiful batch of fig jam you have ever seen?
Arlene Stein is our office manager and she has the most amazing fig tree growing in the backyard of her Brooklyn brownstone. Her husband, Kwame, definitely has a green thumb and every summer I impatiently wait for the tree to bear fruit and be magically cooked into the greatest fig jam ever. The tree is especially abundant with fruit this year, and for the last two weeks Arlene has been cooking up a storm. A couple of years ago she asked me for an easy recipe for preserving the figs. She has been using it ever since.
FIG JAM
(yield 6 half-pint jars)
4 cups fresh figs, cut into 1/2 inches pieces
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.
A touch of vanilla bean
Combine the figs, sugar and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the figs are tender and the juices have thickened, about 1/2 hour. Stir in the vanilla. Ladle into clean canning jars that are still warm from the dishwasher. Cover with the lid. Let cool and store in the refrigerator.
Figs Reposing in Arlene's Kitchen ( Photo by Arlene Stein)
Tags: Figs , Jams , Sarabeth's Bakery
Categories: Jams
Yes this jam is fabulous but if it wasn't for the fabulous SARABETH, I would not have been inspired to make it.
Love you SB,
From your faithful Paperwork Queen
Sarabeth replied to comment from nancy
| August 22, 2012 9:29 PM
Nancy- If you feel you will not use the six jars over the next few months then you can sterilize the jars and fill them while the jam is hot. Place the clean hot, wet lids on top and submerge in a water bath. Simmer in the boiling water for 12 minutes. Carefully remove the jars from the pot and let cool on a terry cloth kitchen towel on the counter. When cool the centers of the caps will be inverted. You can store them in the cabinet. Or give a few away and store the rest in the refrigerator. SB
We also anxiously await my uncle's fig crop. His trees are growing in his backyard in Chicago Illinois. He cultivated them from cuttings from the tree my great grandfather brought with him when he emigrated from Sicily in 1930.
How much does 4 cups of figs weigh. I'd like to know the ratio of fruit to sugar.
Thanks!
Sarabeth replied to comment from julie de lara
| August 28, 2012 10:08 AM
Measure the figs after you cut them up. You will need 4 cups.
Sarabeth,
My grandmother made the most wonderful fig preserves from her huge old tree in Jacksonville, Florida. I have been searching for a recipe like hers and your's seems to be a close fit. I remember she cut up thin lemon slices and they tasted wonderful with the fig syprup. Do you think that would work with your recipe?
Thanks.
Mary Beth
Thanks for sharing it!
do you water bath bath this to process it