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You know what I love? Having friends with gardens. My tiny backyard has a little space for growing things, but between it being shaded almost all day and my non-green thumb, I haven’t had much luck producing anything out there. Luckily, I live in an area that’s surrounded by farmland, so I can get fantastic seasonal produce at the farmer’s market. And when I’m extra lucky, I have friends and coworkers giving me baskets and bags of produce for free. Last week I received a pound of ripe figs, begging to be made into something. Figs are so expensive (and delicious) that I usually just eat them fresh – they don’t need much adornment, although I am curious to try grilling or caramelizing them.
Having a whole pound was so luxurious. So many ideas danced in my head: a gorgeous fig tart, fig and marscarpone creme brulee, fig ice cream…in the end, I was pressed for time and ingredients, so I made a simple fig jam. It’s seriously simple – 4 ingredients simmered for 20 minutes and poured into jars. It’s such a small batch it doesn’t call for boiling the jars. Instead, simply store them in the fridge for up to 3 months. I’m sure they will be gone by then.
I cut the recipe in half (by all means double it if you have 2 pounds of figs) and reduced the sugar. The result was 2 jars of pretty pink-purple jam, chunky and sweet with a bit of tangy flavor from the lemon juice.
Recipe:
- 1 pound fresh figs, stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (around 1 large lemon)
- 1/4 cup water
- Combine fig pieces and sugar in a large, nonreactive saucepan and let sit, stirring occasionally for around 15 minutes (until sugar has mostly dissolved and figs are juicy).
- Add lemon juice and water to figs. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for around 20 minutes (until fruit is soft and the liquid runs off the side of a spoon in thick, heavy drops).
- Spoon jam into 1 to 2 clean 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Seal jars and let cool to room temperature. Store jam in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. (Alternatively, if you want to store the jam at room temperature, see my post on how to can jam.)
Dawn (KitchenTravels)
October 5, 2011 at 11:16 am (13 years ago)Great minds think alike! I just posted about raspberry & fig jam a couple days ago: http://www.kitchentravels.com/2011/10/raspberry-and-fig-jam-recipe.html
Isn’t it great to get free figs? 🙂 xo, Dawn
Stephanie
October 5, 2011 at 1:35 pm (13 years ago)@Dawn – your jam looks wonderful! I love the idea of adding raspberries to it.
janet@fromcupcakestocaviar
October 5, 2011 at 7:24 pm (13 years ago)Fig jam/preserves are probably my favorite preserves of all. I have a lot of good memories surrounding them, strange as that sounds. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ann
October 5, 2011 at 7:33 pm (13 years ago)FANTASTIC! I love fig jam and to have one that doesn’t require all the canning crazy is awesome!
Lindsey@Lindselicious
October 5, 2011 at 11:15 pm (13 years ago)I love fig jam, I recently got some as a gift that had ginger in it too. I agree I love that it doesnt require canning. (Im still too chicken to try it)
The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time
October 6, 2011 at 11:34 am (13 years ago)I had a friend give me a whole bunch too. I love my fig jam. This looks fantastic.
Ally
October 17, 2011 at 2:45 pm (13 years ago)Looks delish! Aren’t we lucky we live in Sac? Seems like our farmers markets & friends’ gardens are always overflowing with stuff.
Bobi
November 5, 2011 at 6:49 pm (13 years ago)Am going to use your recipe to make my first fig jam ever… So thanks for sharing. I am toying around with putting lemon zest in it too and was wondering if you’ve tried that or what you think of the idea. Thanks!
Stephanie
November 7, 2011 at 9:43 pm (13 years ago)@Bobi – It had a relatively strong lemon flavor with just the juice, so I would only add zest if you want a lemon-fig jam.
Annette Blevins
August 1, 2012 at 1:43 pm (12 years ago)I made this fig recipe,It was delicious,I added a little bit of gran marine.
daniel
January 27, 2013 at 8:57 pm (12 years ago)Hello, my name is Daniel. Great job with your figs they look fantastic would you like to trade fig cuttings? if so please contact me at ediblelandscaping.sc@gmail.com I have a few different fig trees and would love to try your tasty looking figs one day. Figs root easily from cuttings and cuttings are easy to ship. I have red, black, yellow, brown, green, and white and would love to share some with you. Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you. or anyone else that might want to trade.
Oly
January 18, 2014 at 2:41 am (11 years ago)Hi! Thank you for posting this recipe. I made this fig jam today using freshly picked green figs from a tree on my street. It worked beautifully as an accompaniment to crackers with cheese!
Gina
July 10, 2015 at 3:10 pm (9 years ago)Thanks for this easy recipe. This is the first year I have harvested from my fig tree. The drought made it near impossible to get any figs before our rainy spring. it is hands down my favorite jam – many happy memories of it. Can’t wait to go make mine!
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Vicki
September 1, 2017 at 8:24 am (7 years ago)Lovely recipe! Bought beautiful figs at Costco and then found I needed to eat them all within two days. No one else in my world would eat them. What to do? Found this sweet little recipe, added a dash of vanilla, and I am happy as a fig. Try this! Thank you “Kitchen Adventures”!