Fig Jam

I LOVE figs! There are some many things I love about them. I love the sweet honey like nectar that drips out of a perfectly ripe fruit. I love the texture of the flesh when I eat into it and most of all I love the childhood memories it provokes when I eat my first fig every summer. If you haven’t guessed it already, figs are a wonderful part of my life. (Don’t you just love how food can provide so many emotions, pleasures and memories?!)

Every summer I must ask my parents on a weekly basis if the figs are ready for picking on their tree and I get so excited when the answer is yes. I love that it has become something very special to me now as my mum and dad always save one of the first figs picked from their tree for me and now that my little boy loves them, they save one for him too!

A couple of years ago my mum and dad had an abundance of figs on their tree. They were becoming very ripe very quickly and so I asked if I could have some to experiment with to make my first batch of fig jam. The jam tasted amazing and now it’s a recipe I’ve been using over and over. I’m sharing it with you now too and I hope enjoy it just as much as I do.

Fig Jam 

Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free, Yeast Free, Paleo, Vegan, Egg free

Ingredients

– 8-9 cups of black mission figs, washed and chopped roughly with the skin left on.
– 1/4 cup coconut sugar
– peel of 1/4 of a lemon
– pinch of salt
– 3cm piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
– 2 cloves
– 2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean
– 1/2 cup of filtered water

Method
1. Put all ingredients (except for the water) into a pot (I use my cast iron pot for this) and cover with a lid. Place in the fridge and leave it to sit overnight.

2. The next day, add 1/2 cup water and cook over a medium to high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

3. Once the coconut sugar has dissolved, turn the heat down and cook, stirring occasionally until the jam thickens. Mash with a potato masher until you reach a desired texture. I like my jam to be mostly smooth with some small chunks of fig left in there.

4. Remove the lemon peel, cloves and ginger and the

n ladle the jam into sterilised jars.

5. Carefully place the jars into a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool. Once completely cooled, place lids on jars and keep in the fridge.

Enjoy!