Fig and Ginger Jam

The fruit man's fig tree has come to the end of its run, with autumn now well and truly upon us.  Sandra shared the last of the figs with Lee and I, and with mine, I decided to make fig and ginger jam to preserve those glorious figs for the long winter months.  (In Melbourne, it certainly doesn't get as cold as in parts of Europe and North America, but it doesn't really warm up again until November-December.)

My fig and ginger jam was inspired by this recipe on TahiniToo.  However, I didn't use as many figs (as I didn't have as many ;)), I left the skins on, and I upped the fruit:sugar ratio so that I didn't have to use pectin.  However, I did take on board all of their glorious flavours, including the addition of vanilla, cinnamon and of course, fresh grated ginger. The resulting jam was just marvellous - I could eat it by the spoon from the jar.

My recipe is as follows:

900g fresh figs, washed and stalks removed, mashed
600g white sugar
1" knob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Sterilise some glass jars and their lids by boiling them, or heating them in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes (my preferred method).

Put all of the jam ingredients into a large, heavy-based saucepan, and bring to the boil over medium heat.  In the meantime, place a saucer in the freezer.  Once the ingredients have come to the boil, reduce the heat and continue simmering the ingredients ("a rolling boil") until they begin to thicken.  Test whether the jam is ready by taking your saucer out of the freezer and dropping a small amount of jam onto it - leave it for around 30 seconds, then run your finger through the jam (being careful not to burn yourself) - if the jam does not run back into the gap made by your finger, then it is ready.  Otherwise, if it is still runny, keep boiling the jam, but be careful not to overboil it or you will get candy.

Once the jam is ready, pour it into the sterilised glass jars (ideally you should fill them almost to the top to eliminate air), then seal.  Allow the jam to cool on the bench in the jars.

Enjoy your jam however you fancy and remind yourself of summer on a cold day.

Fig Jam

Every year, the fruit man at work shares his home-grown figs with the lucky person who collects the fruit from him each week.  As Karen has sadly moved on, Sandra, our receptionist, is now the lucky recipient of the figs.

I am lucky in that Sandra passed the figs on to me.  I decided that a great way to use the figs would be to make fig jam to preserve them for weeks to come.

The recipe that I used for fig jam comes from p227 of The Country Show Cookbook, and comes from Margaret Bradley from the Trundle Show.  The recipe is as follows:

1kg figs
750g white sugar

(I used 700g figs and 500g sugar)

Cut the thick, milky part of the fig stems off.  Place the whole figs (skin and all) in a large saucepan and cover them with water.  Simmer the figs until they are tender.

Drain the cooked figs, then mash them with a potato masher.  Pour the sugar on top of the figs, then boil the mixture until it reaches setting point.  (To tell this - put a saucer in the freezer; when you think the jam is ready, drop a small amount of teaspoon onto the frozen plate, put in the fridge for a couple of minutes, then run your finger through the jam on the plate.  If it doesn't run back in to fill in the track you made with your finger, it has reached setting point.)

Pour the jam into sterilised jars and seal.

Spread your jam on bread or cakes:

or just eat it out of the jar!