Nono's Fig Preserves
3 Tbs baking soda
3 cups boiling water
1 qt ripe figs
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
Remove stems from figs. Remove fuzz from figs by sprinkling baking soda over them and covering them with boiling water. Allow to stand 5 minutes, then drain and rinse well.
Slit or pierce one side of each fig with a paring knife to prevent bursting.
In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, dissolve sugar in 1 c water to form a simple syrup. Add the thinly sliced lemon, and cook until the syrup forms a thin string when dropped into cold water. (This is the thread stage, around 230° - 235°F.)
Place the prepared figs in the boiling syrup and boil until tender and honey colored.
Place boiling mixture into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rim clean, seal loosely with a two part canning lid and cool on the counter. When the jars are completely cooled, tighten the ring of the lid and check the seal. Refrigerate any jars that did not seal correctly.
When I was a child, my grandmother "Nono" had a fig tree in her backyard that was situated next to an old-fashioned swamp cooler. The fine mist the tower gave off was perfect for the fig tree, and it rewarded us year after year with bumper crops of green figs! We would eat our fill (along with the thieving Blue Jays) and then Nono would start putting up fig preserves for us to enjoy the rest of the year. My favorite part was the lemon rind and I would often get caught digging down to the bottom of the jar just to get the last bit of lemon.
3 cups boiling water
1 qt ripe figs
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
Remove stems from figs. Remove fuzz from figs by sprinkling baking soda over them and covering them with boiling water. Allow to stand 5 minutes, then drain and rinse well.
Slit or pierce one side of each fig with a paring knife to prevent bursting.
In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, dissolve sugar in 1 c water to form a simple syrup. Add the thinly sliced lemon, and cook until the syrup forms a thin string when dropped into cold water. (This is the thread stage, around 230° - 235°F.)
Place the prepared figs in the boiling syrup and boil until tender and honey colored.
Place boiling mixture into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rim clean, seal loosely with a two part canning lid and cool on the counter. When the jars are completely cooled, tighten the ring of the lid and check the seal. Refrigerate any jars that did not seal correctly.
When I was a child, my grandmother "Nono" had a fig tree in her backyard that was situated next to an old-fashioned swamp cooler. The fine mist the tower gave off was perfect for the fig tree, and it rewarded us year after year with bumper crops of green figs! We would eat our fill (along with the thieving Blue Jays) and then Nono would start putting up fig preserves for us to enjoy the rest of the year. My favorite part was the lemon rind and I would often get caught digging down to the bottom of the jar just to get the last bit of lemon.
Comments