Fig Jam

Yes, I know what some of you are thinking.

I am about to talk about Fig Jam.  Well actually it was described to me as Fig Conserve, but I prefer to call it Fig Jam.

My beautiful mother knew that I had a glut of figs. Mum asked her friend Beth to share her recipe for Fig Conserve which I decided that I better hurry up and make as the figs were getting a bit over-ripe. The remainder of the figs are currently in the dehydrator.  At the same time Mum also scored a couple of versions of Quince Jam which I will try out in a few weeks time (those quinces of mine are going nowhere in a hurry even though I have given about 40 kg away - plus it will be months before they are past their use by date so I can put this off for a while).  I don't think I am particularly good at making jams so this was a challenge for me.

Fig Conserve/Jam:
Make sugar syrup with 3/4 cup white vinegar, 1 tspn ground ginger, 100g preserved ginger (I didn't have any so I used a couple of teaspooons of plain old grated ginger), 2 kg sugar, 1 1/2 cups water and 1/4 tspn cayenne pepper (this is NOT a mistake - my mother and I both queried this).  Wash and cut up 3 kg figs (I just halved them so they were nice and chunky) and add to syrup.  Boil until desired colour and syrup is thick.  Bottle and seal in sterilised jars while hot.  Wait for two weeks before using.

Well, I couldn't wait for two weeks as the recipe "suggested" so I tried it pretty much straight away.  It was absolutely delicious (thank you Beth for the recipe), however as my jam making skills are not so good I overcooked it and it is more like a toffee than a jam.  I bent a teaspoon trying to get some out of the jar! I am already thinking of alternative uses for this absolutely gorgeous toffee like substance - back to the lab for more experimentation!