It looks like I am going to have a bumper crop this year. I make fig preserves every year but I have lost the recipe, probably when my wife did her spring cleaning. I need a recipe for preserves and would like to try some other things since it looks like I will have so many extra figs.

My old recipe call for X#cups of figs and X#cups of sugar, a touch of vanilla extract. I don't have a scale so recipes by weight won't work for me.

Anyone ever make pickled figs? Never heard of them but I like pickled stuff. Anyone make fig wine? Any other recipes would be greatly appreciated.

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

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 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!

Nancy