Fig magic. Recipe: Fresh fig jam

Autumn is so here, I can feel it with all my senses. The early morning is getting colder and it’s so hard to get out of my warm bed. The best part of autumn? Beautiful light scarves are put into use. My favourite one is the green scarf with white dots that I picked up at a bargain from Laura Ashley. And I love the soft touch of my big red wine colored wrapping scarf around my shoulders.

During the week, my MIL brought me a whole heaps of fresh figs. The kinds that you would pay $$$ for in the farmers’ market. The fig tree in her backyard never fails to deliver these awesome fruits every year. It’s so wonderful, like magic really.

Photo: thick slices of brioche, top with fresh ricotta and home-made fig jam. Yum!

If you reside in Oz land, you should (must!) try Maggie Beer’s burnt fig jam. I was never such a vivid fan of fig until I tried her jam and how she used it to make Burnt fig and bitter almonds ice-cream. Okay, they are a bit costly but I love these products so much, money becomes secondary.

I have longed to try my hands making jam from fresh figs, and finally it comes. I can tell you, the aroma of the jam is so delightful – sweet, floral notes; very “figgy” indeed. And you know what is the best part?

Fresh figs from mom’s garden: zero dollar.

1/2 kg of sugar: 30 cents something

Lemons: $2 for 10 fat and juicy ones

Taste and aroma of home-made fig jam: PRICELESS!

If you cannot make the jam yourself or run out, there’s always Maggie Beer’s!

{okay, I did go a bit overboard, but I have never met anyone who did not like fig jam ;))

Fig Jam Recipe. From fresh figs

The recipe is based on the one published here. I combined it with the descriptions on the Maggie Beer’s burnt fig jam bottle to make mine. The result is just perfect.

What to do? Get your hands on some ripe figs. Cut off the stem. Weigh the figs.

How much sugar to use? Half the weight of the figs. (I have 1.2kg, so I use around 550-600g sugar)

Direction: Put the sugar and fruit together in a big bowl. Stir well , then refrigerate the whole thing overnight.

The next day, boil the sugar and the figs together in a heavy sauce-pan. Once the sugar is boiled, gently remove the fruits with a slotted spoon. Continue to boil the sugar syrup until it reaches 110C (hard-ball stage). Return the fruit to the sugar mixture.

Break up the fruits with a wooden spoon. Continue to boil the whole thing with gentle heat until the jam thickens (around 1 hour for me?). Stir occasionally. Squeeze in some juice of 1-2 lemons (do a taste test. I used 1.5 lemons). Continue to boil off until everything is set.

Pour the hot jam into sterilised jars. Seal, cool and refrigerate.

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I made another batch just now! It's one of those things that are too good to share!