This preserve recipe is awesome. Well worth using the real vanilla beans. If you make a PBJ on toast it's like have a giant Fig Newton for lunch! :)
The quantities in parentheses are mine to use the amount figs I had at the time.

Fig preserves � Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber (posted by Jessica�cooking forum)

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 lbs (1 kg) fresh black figs (3 lbs)
3 3/4 cups (800 g) granulated white sugar (4 cups)
Juice of 1 lemon (+ a little bottled)
2 vanilla beans (3 beans)

TO DO
1. Rinse figs in cold water and wipe dry with a clean towel.
Remove the stems and quarter the figs.
If they're particularly large, cut them into eighths.
Split the vanilla beans lengthwise

2. Combine the figs, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla beans in a non-reactive bowl.
Cover, ideally with a piece of crumpled, damp parchment paper.
Set aside to macerate for an hour.

3. Pour the contents of the bowl into your preserving pan and bring them to a simmer.
Return them to the bowl and cover again.
Put this into the refrigerator for at least eight hours, or overnight.

4. Prepare your jars for canning.

5. Again return the fruit mixture to the pan.
Bring it to a full boil. Skim off the foam if you care about that sort of thing.
Continue cooking until the mixture comes up to 221� F (105� C) -- about 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove the vanilla beans near the end of the process.
Stir gently as it cooks.

6. Pour the jam into jars and boil water bath 15 mins.

Deanna

Figs are high on the pH scale (4.9 to 5.1) so you must, must, must use lemon juice to bring the pH down below 4.6 to have safely canned "Fig Preserves (Jam)" for long term pantry storage or you risk developing botulism toxins in the sealed jars. You could also use vinegar but that throws the taste off considerably, though a different recipe for "Pickled Figs" would include it. Adding vanilla extract changes the flavor, not the pH.

Here's my recipe for Fig Preserves (Jam):
Nancedar's Fig Preserves
2 pounds of freshly picked and washed figs that have had the stem removed and the little flower dot (contains enzymes that inhibit forming a gel), and cut in half or fourths = about 4C prepared.
1/2 C bottled lemon juice, or astringent lemons (not Meyer)
3/4 C water
7 C granulated sugar
Put the figs, lemon juice and water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add sugar and return to a full boil. Stir in 1 pouch Certo liquid pectin.
Count 1 minute after full boil has returned.

Put in 8 half-pint jars filling to 1/4" below rim. Wipe rims and jar threads with a damp paper towel. Apply lids and bands, tightening to just finger-tight. Put in a water bath canner so that there is 1 to 2 inches of boiling water covering the tops of the jars as you put them all in, and cover with a lid. Count 10 minutes after water returns to a roiling boil. Remove jars, put on rack or towels to cool, leaving them undisturbed for 24 hours out of drafts. Label the lid with its name and date.

I have tried several recipes for "Pickled Figs" and have not liked any of them. Figs are sweet and adding vinegar to them alters the flavor to a taste that I don't care for, though you might like it. Since you have an abundance of fruit, it would be easy enough to try. I'd recommend "The Joy Of Pickling" by Linda Ziedrich, highly admired preserver, whose delicious recipes are trusted by beginner and master preservers alike. She also is the author of "The Joy of Jam, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves".

I do like "Whole Preserved Figs" that take a little time to prepare before sealing and put in a boiling water bath. It involves steeping the whole figs, with stem, overnight with sugar, a thinly sliced lemon and juice from another lemon or from bottled juice, and optionally a piece of thinly sliced fresh ginger. Then a small amount of water is added to the pot and gently heated for an hour and a half until the figs are translucent but still retain their shape. These are luxurious.

If you are looking for help in canning - visit the Garden Web's Harvest Forum. That's where the preservers mostly hang out.

Good luck and let us know what and how you "put up" your figs.

Nancy

I forgot about this post until I went out and picked a bunch of figs an hour ago. I figured it would be easier to do a search than to search through my recipes!

I used both recipes and they were both great, "Sweet thang" liked Deanna's a little better with the vanilla. I liked the one from Nancy! My co-workers loved them too!

Thanks to both of you and for the tip on the flower dot Nancy! I didn't know that!

I label my lower sugar jam as: "Less Sugar More Fig Jam". Use the pink box of Sure-jel pectin for low or no sugar jam. Cut up fresh figs to measure 4 cups and put in a preserving pan or large pot. Add 1 package of LS pectin, 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice, 1/2 cup water and bring to the boil. Let cook 2 or 3 minutes until you can see that the fruit takes on a bit of translucency. Stir in 3 cups sugar and bring back to boil counting 1 minute after it returns to the boil. Put in 5 half-pint jars, wipe rims, apply lids and bands. BWB 10 minutes.

Nancy

The Ferber book also has a recipe for fig-orange jam that is excellent. With both lemon and orange juice as well as orange slices, the acidity should be safe.