Thanks to the bounty of figs my that grew on my mother in law’s fig tree and to her generosity – I had a huge container of figs in the refrigerator that no one seemed to be eating – and for fear of them going to waste – Yesterday I decided to pull out my family’s time honored tradition of “putting up” the figs to jam.
So last night – I washed the figs (approximately two pounds) and put them in a crock pot with a cup of sugar and a splash of lemon juice. I put the setting on low and let the figs slow cook through the evening.
This morning I took the figs out of the Crockpot (simultaneously I had canning jars being sterilized in the dishwasher – and a large canning pot full of water set to boil on the stove) – and I ran the fig mixture through the apple sauce mill. (I’m not sure exactly what it’s called) – It may just be called a “mill”. The mill mashes the mixture through a strainer – leaving any skins or seeds behind.
I returned the fig mixture to a pot and cooked it on the stove with a high flame for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally to bring the fig mixture to a boil and the temperature up to 220 degrees. (This is the temperature that will set the mixture to “gel” into a jam texture).
Once the fig mixture hit the correct temperature – I added cinnamon to the mix.
I then carefully poured the mixture into canning jars – put on the tops and bands and then lowered the jars into the large pot of water into a hot bath for twenty minutes.
After the bath – I set the jars onto the counter and let them cool off.
Of course I set aside one jar – for tasting purposes. J
I could have made the jam in one process (on stovetop) – however slow cooking the figs overnight caused them to caramelize – and the taste is that much more sublime.
When Joseph complained about my boiling a huge pot of water on a hot day – I told him that that is how it’s done – having the bounty usually coincides with warm weather. The whole idea is putting up the bounty to be preserved for the winter months or when the food being preserved is not normally available.
I’d like to send out a shout out to my grandmother, aunties and my mom – who showed me how to make preserves – because without knowing how to do this I would not have been able to prepare and preserve such a beautiful batch of Fig Jam.
Thank you too Nonna for sharing your bounty of figs with us.
oxoxoxom
