Well, I didn’t see this coming – Fig Jam! I typically make enough apricot jam and jalapeno jelly each summer to get us through the winter, but our apricot trees didn’t fare well through the 2022 drought. And I only grew one jalapeno plant last year. It produced plump flavorful peppers, but just enough for eating, cooking, and freezing, not enough excess for making jelly. I found an open bag of dried figs while surveying the pantry a few weeks ago and pondered how to make use of them. Would the leathery fruits soften and cook down to a jammy sweet sauce?
They did just that. I’m no stranger to making jams and jellies, so I knew to be patient and watch the fruit dissolve as the mixture thickened. It does take time, but it’s so worth the wait.
So this Fig Jam is a new recipe, not something that’s been in rotation, but I’m looking forward to all of the things we can do with it. Of course we’ll slather it on sourdough with a bit of funky, runny cheese. But what about spreading it on a pizza, topped with caramelized onion, red bell pepper, and crumbled hot Italian sausage? A rustic fig galette? Any other ideas? Please let me know!
Fig Jam
Ingredients
- 12 ounces dried figs
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 6 T balsamic glaze
- 2 cups water
- 1 1/2 t lemon juice
Instructions
- Prepare the figs – Remove the nub of stem from the figs, then roughly chop the fruit.
- Combine the ingredients and simmer – Add the figs, sugar, balsamic, water, and lemon juice in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat, and simmer until the figs are quite soft, watching and stirring as needed.
- Blend the figs – Once the figs have softened, but before the mixture gets too thick, use an immersion blender to chop the figs into smaller pieces, leaving a bit of texture bobbing in the jam.
- Cook to thicken – Simmer for another ten minutes or so, until the jam is thickened to your preference. It will continue to thicken as it cools.
Notes
I did try growing figs at one point. I was at the Hartford Regional Farmer’s Market looking for large, healthy perennials and shrubs, when I found a fig tree! It was lovely and healthy and almost my height. I had to have it, imagining it dripping with sweet, nutty, chewy figs in late summer. When the purveyor took my money, he leaned in and said, Be sure to protect it in the winter. I thought to myself, Oh, no – I’ve done a bad thing. I’m not going to tell you how that story ended. I think you know.