This is the recipe I used (it's from Taste of Beirut, a blog I heartily recommend):

2 pounds of figs
2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

That site does NOT mention canning the result. But I found the same recipe on another site, with canning instructions:

4 Cups whole figs (about 2 1/2 pounds)
2 Cups sugar
4 Lemon slices, seeds removed (1 slice per jar)
3/4 to 1 Cup water
1 pinch salt
Yield: About 4 half-pint jars

So I canned them. This was before I knew about the NCHFP site, and before I knew about the prevalence of unsafe canning recipes online.

Now I am looking at NCHFP recipes, and one of them lists lemon as 'optional':

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/fig_preserves.html

(All of the above recipes, including the NCHFP one, involve boiling for hours until thick, so I don't THINK the sugar quantity is a big deal -- if the syrup is thinner, we just boil longer, right?)

BUT other two NCHFP recipes use much more lemon than the blogger ones and don't call it optional:

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/fig.html

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/fig_jam.html

Um, so, should I be concerned?

And if my preserves are unsafe as-is, can I fix them by some combination of boiling and/or recanning?

Thanks, folks. I grew up with the BBB and, before I found this forum, thought I could just trust any written recipe :/.

However, right now I wanted to mention that sugar level is very important in food safety, especially of a low-acid product. Sugar is hydroscopic. In other words, it binds (absorbs) water, and water activity is crucial to the growth of certain pathogens. So it is very possible that an otherwise low-acid product poses no or little risk because the high sugar levels inhibit bacterial growth.

That is, in fact, one of the challenges in developing low- or no-sugar recipes using artificial sweeteners. Pickled beets artificially sweetened sometimes spoiled even when canned with appropriate amounts of vinegar.

Linda Ziedrich's book has several fig recipes, including a fig puree (I call it fig butter) which does not call for lemon. Her recipes have been vetted for safety.

So it's hard to generalize, though lemon definitely helps by raising acidity.

Carol

Carol addressed the sugar issues exceptionally well so I can't add anything to that part.

So basically the question, if I understand correctly, is are your blog recipes safe? No way to guarantee it of course since they are untested. I note they use substantially less figs than the NCHFP recipes, so in theory they could be ok with less lemon.

But what bothers me is that I am used to recipes with much more lemon juice and sugar for even less figs. We use Ellie Topp's recipe that calls for 3 T lemon juice and 2 cups sugar for just 1 pound of figs. So your blog recipes just sound 'off' to me.

And if my preserves are unsafe as-is, can I fix them by some combination of boiling and/or recanning?

That's difficult to answer. In theory (again) if you are uncomfortable with them then you could open the jar and boil the contents and then rejar and refrigerate. Problem is you'll likely lose the set and end up with fig syrup. But it would be safe to eat. Would it really be worth it? Not IMO but it is your choice of course.

For this year's batch just use the tested recipes as there are many of them available.

Dave

>In theory (again) if you are uncomfortable with them then you could open the jar and boil the contents and then rejar and refrigerate. Problem is you'll likely lose the set and end up with fig syrup. But it would be safe to eat. Would it really be worth it? Not IMO but it is your choice of course.

I don't care about losing the set. I care a lot about losing the figs, though. I'm also unsure if I have enough room in the fridge!

Re: sugar:

The NCHFP lemon-optional recipe has far less sugar (a little more than half) compared to the blog one, AND adds a bunch of water. So I am pretty dang confident the NCHFP sugar solution is less concentrated than mine, even if (as is possible) I reduced it from the blog recipe. Plus I remember I boiled mine for 2-3 hours.

So, I guess what this comes down to is that (unbeknownst to me) I used the NCHFP recipe but added more sugar and some optional lemon. Does that mean I am cool to eat these dang preserves?

Not that "pretty close" is what the goal should be, but it sounds like you've already figured that out!

They aren't going to kill you. With the acid and sugar, the worst thing is going to be mold and you can SEE that.

Fresh lemons are not recommended for canning as they vary too much in pH level. Bottled should be used. That said, some recipes use fresh lemon mostly for flavor and are not relying on it for the acidification and are fine. Again, a reason to use approved recipes.

Enjoy your preserves.
Deanna

>I came across a nice fact sheet for figs from Utah State which was posted on the UC Davis site.

Yes, those are the recipes from the NCHFP site, all on one page. Except, interestingly, they deleted the 'optional' from the lemons on the preserves recipe. I wonder if that was just for tidy formatting?