Actually these were not intended to become a fig jam but as I said yesterday, when I went to the farmers’ market I bought tons of fruit, amongst other two kinds of figs: black figs and royal figs.
The only ones in the family eating figs is my elder son and me. We ate a few but since I had bought so many other fruit, after a few days later I saw that they were becoming soft and if I didn’t do anything quick, I would have to throw them away.
So the first thing that came to my mind was to preserve them. I peeled them, weighed them (i just guessed about the sugar as I was not following any recipe) and added sugar and brandy. I put them on the heat stirring until the sugar dissolved and when they began to boil, I lowered the heat and simmered them for 15 minutes. I added the lemon juice and removed them from the heat. I let it cool down and stored the jam in the refrigerator until I had time to think what to do with it.
When it cooled down I tried it and could not stop eating. It was so addictive, I could eat it all at once. When I made it I didn’t add too much sugar as I wanted to use it right away and not to preserve it as a proper jam, so if you’re thinking of preserving it, add more sugar. A few days later I searched for recipes in the internet and decided to make one. It was a disaster but I will talk about this and what I eventually made in another post.
Fig Jam, Recipe by Ivy
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yields: 3 cups
- 700 grams of figs (after being peeled) (I used black figs and royal figs)
- 300 grams of sugar (I would say add 400 – 500 grams)
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons of brandy
Directions:
- Peel figs and cut into 4. Add sugar, lemon juice and brandy and put on heat stirring and pressing them with the spoon to release their juice.
- When they boil, lower heat and simmer for fifteen minutes, mixing constantly.
- Allow to cool before using or placing into clean jars.
Fig Spoon Sweet
I was not planning to post this recipe but I got an e-mail from a reader asking me if I had a recipe for fig spoon sweets, I could share. Since I won’t be making this spoon sweet soon I’ve decided to share this recipe together with the fig jam.
- 50 unripe figs
- 1 ½ kilos sugar
- 1 cup of cooking quick lime
- 3 cups of water
- ½ cup of lemon juice
- cloves and/or vanilla
- 50 blanched and roasted almonds (optional) or use 25 and split them into two pieces
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
Peal off a thin lay of skin from the figs (use gloves to protect yourself from the latex oozing out of the figs). Place them in a big pot with the water and quick lime for 1 hour.
Rinse the figs thoroughly and return to pot, cover with water and bring them to boil. Use a skewer or a knitting needle to poke them and when the fall off the skewer you will know that they are cooked.
Remove from the heat, drain them and use fresh water to cover them and add the lemon juice. Let them soak for one hour.
Meantime blanche and roast the almonds and after the one hour drain them again and insert one almond in each. Push it from underneath.
Put them back to the pan, cover with sugar and the 3 cups of water and let them rest for ½ an hour.
Put them back on the heat and bring them to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Leave them in the pot all night and the following day bring them to boil again until syrup is thick. When they are done, add 2 spoonfuls of lemon juice and the vanilla.
Remove from heat and they should cool down before placing them into sterilized jars.
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Tags: figs, Jams and preserves, Spoon Sweets
Looks delicious Ivy! A great combination to make a «quick» fig jam.
Don’t you know that Sundays are made for resting ;D? I planned to stop blogging during the weekend but I’m completely addicted and devoted to figs, so I’m saving your recipe to preserve some of the figs I bought too
. Thanks darling Ivy!
Hi Peter, it really was quick but even for a regular jam no more time is need, just more sugar.
Good morning sweetie Nuria. Yes, I know but I was up from 6 a.m. so I didn’t want to watch t.v. Nuria, I am sure you will love it. Now, I’m cooking and having a break to drink my second coffee, that’s why I’m at the computer again.
I’m so glad you posted this for two reasons. One, I love figs but hardly get a chance to cook with them because they’re so expensive here. And the second is that I’m obsessed with jamming. Thanks, Ivy!
Hi Dee. Don’t think that they are cheaper here but that day I got them half price. I also love making jam, it’s so much better.
I love figg jam. Good move to use them. I hate it when produce turns so qucikly.
ok…firstly, I want to screeeeaaaaammm because I love figs :’-( I like to eat fresh figs, baked them with feta too :’-( Goshhh I can go Figgy with Figs!
Hi Pixen. Figs are good with any kind of cheese. They are soooo good with anthotyro as well.
Those figs are so yummy! I am glad that you were able to preserve them! It would be horrible to see any of those beauties go to waste!
Jenn, I can’t wait to go to the farmers’ market again and see if I can get some at a bargain price because this one is long gone – but I did make good use of it…
The green with purple hued figs look like the highly cherished «Vassilika» figs…even the thin skins are edible…yum!
Peter you are right they are vassilika «royal» figs and they are absolutely delicious. I had to ask the vendor to be sure that they were.
The black figs in your photo are like the ones I tried here that they just called Greek figs. I haven’t tried the royal figs….yet..I’ll add that to my list of things next year:D
Ooh I love all types of jams,your fig jam looks especially tempting:)
This looks so good! I’ve been gorging on figs lately and have had vague notions of fig jam/preserves in my head, and this has totally sold me on the idea. It looks great!
I am so jealous! The season is almost over and I haven’t gotten any figs. It’s been years since the last time I ate figs. That’s what I miss from Mexico the most, it’s tons of fresh, cheap fruit at the market
[...] I made the fig jam at the beginning of this month, I began thinking what to do with it. I remembered when I was still [...]
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