Could we see the recipe please? Thanks.

Dave

Jim, sounds like Fig with Vanilla from Mes Confitures; if you post it I can tell you. But that recipe only has the fresh juice of one lemon, and figs are one of the two common fruits that don't have enough acid to be canned plain (the other is Asian pear). I don't see a satisfactory discussion of Christine Ferber's fig recipes on here.

But to answer your real question, I believe Ferber is advocating the open kettle method, which is not recommended. I usually BWB her jams for 10 minutes.

Melissa

Hi Melissa, yes thats it. the recipe is
2 1/4 cup fig(fresh)
3 3/4 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
2 vanilla beans
i have the first part of it done where it sits overnight in fridge, now i'm getting ready to finish and need to know if i can process in a BWB. thanks again
Jim

Did you mis-type or did you actually macerate 2 1/4 cups fresh figs? Ferber's recipe calls for 2 1/4 pounds.

Assuming you're OK in that department, I think you're fine to BWB. Ball Blue Book's recipe is basically a double of Ferber's and it only calls for 1/4 cup lemon juice. Juice of 1 lemon is approximately 1/2 cup, making Ferber's recipe about 4x the acid of the Ball one.

All I can say is I wish I had the figs to make this.

Carol

As Melissa says it isn't enough lemon juice and it should be bottled lemon juice rather than fresh to be considered safe because figs are low-acid - 1 T per pint minimum.

But - never done figs myself so will leave it to the fig authorities here. ;)

Dave

Carol beat me to it - she knows her stuff. Tho I'm inclined to only get about 1/4 cup per lemon rather than 1/2. Maybe my lemons are smaller.

Dave

Either way, small lemon or large, it looks like Ferber's recipe is well within the margin of safety for figs. I admit I was surprised at the small amount the Ball recipe called for but the sugar plays a big role in safety. I definitely trust them to be ultra-conservative in their approach to recipes.

Carol

carol,yes it was a mis-type. pounds of figs not cups. i just finished making it.BWB for 10 minutes. looks and taste great,however the next time i may only add 1 vanilla bean instead of 2. it has just a little too much vanilla taste. thanks to all for your help.
Jim

Yesterday, I picked five pounds of lovely ripe figs and made a conserve/jam similar to the one listed here. I cut back to one vanilla bean, and also added 1 Tbls of chopped fresh ginger and thin strips of lemon peel (used organic lemon) from the one lemon I used for juice. It's lovely - set up perfectly after cooking slowly at a full boil for about 35 minutes, until reduced by half.

At Christmas, I make fig pinwheel cookies, sort of like Fig Newtons, and I think using this jam will make them super delicious.

Cathy

Recipe:
5 lbs figs, chopped
4.5 c sugar
1/2 c lemon
thin strips of lemon peel from one lemon
1 T ginger
1 vanilla bean

Boil all ingredients until reduced by 1/2 and refrigerate overnight. Reheat the next day and boil hard for five minutes. Process 1/2 pts. in a BWB for 10 min.

Came home from the hospital and found all my figs rotten on the ground. They were a total loss this year.. The leaves are now dieing too, and the soil in the pot must have been very dry to have that happen so quickly. The next door neighbor was watering a few times, but I doubt it was the gallon of water it needs each day to grow without wilting. I plan to cut away a few new soil shoots and prune it down a bit. Its stored in my garage for winters. Lemon and figs go great together too.

Hey Y'all, I need your help.

Now I'm thoroughly confused.
Jim's recipe says:
2 1/4 lbs figs
3 3/4 lbs sugar
juice of 1 lemon
2 vanilla beans

Bon appetit says:
2 lemons, peeled in long strips w/veg. peeler then cut smaller
4 lbs. figs
4 lbs sugar
3/4 C brandy or cognac
1/2 teas. Kosher salt

Mix together...let set 1 hr.
Bring to boil until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to med, cook 30 to 35 min. Put in jars, cover with hot lids, process in BWB 10 min.
Still another recipe from a blog:

Equal parts of figs and sugar.
Juice of half a lemon per pound of figs
1/8 to 1/4 pt. of water per pound of figs depending on how ripe they are.

Place all ingred. in stockpot, gently simmer for 40 min. to an hour, until jam reaches setting point.

Says nothing about processing.

This is the firrst year my figs have ripened before frost got them and I don't have that many, probably 2 pounds, but I don't want to make a big mistake. Then there's the kind of lemon...fresh lemon juice vs Realemon vs lemon peel.

I definately need help.

Jude

jude - sure there are lots of recipes for it out there but that doesn't make them safe ones. ;)

Melissa mentions that Ferber's recipes may well be open to question but Carol vetted Jim's posted recipe and she knows what she is doing. Carol also approves the one in the BBB. So even though it is borderline acid amt. it should be safe.

Cathy's posted recipe, since it doubles the amount of figs but calls for no added acid wouldn't be safe in my opinion either.

Personally, if I liked figs and was making it, I would use Jim's recipe but with bottled not fresh and double the amount of the lemon juice. JMO

But Bon Appetit, a cooking not a canning source, has NO acid juice in it of any kind so it clearly isn't safe acid-wise but they are counting on the cognac as the alcohol preservative.

As mentioned above, figs are one of the two low-acid fruit so recipes using them MUST be acidified. Stick with either the one in the BBB or the one of Jim's that Carol says is safe.

Dave

Looks like you haven't heard the last of me. If I understand this fig recipe of Jim's, there's half again the amount of sugar for the amount of figs compared to the others. Would it be okay to leave the vanilla bean out? And is it 1 C. bottled lemon juice? Guess I'm a slow learner.

Jude

No, as Jim and Carol said above, he typed 2 1/4 cups of figs but it really is 2 1/4 pounds of figs. So the recipe is 3 3/4 cups of sugar for 2 1/4 lbs of figs. Then it calls for the juice of one lemon. Carol says that usually equals 1/2 cup (I would use 1/2 cup of bottled juice if it was me). Jim said he would use only 1 vanilla bean next time instead of the 2 called for. You could leave both out but then you wouldn't have Vanilla Fig Preserves. ;)

Corrected recipe:

2 1/4 lbs. of figs(fresh)
3 3/4 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
2 vanilla beans

BWB 10 mins.

Dave

I'm sorry Dave, you are sorrect. I was seeing cups of sugar and thinking pounds of sugar which is the way most of the recipes were reading and it made it easy in a way because it was pound for pound. I really wasn't looking for vanilla fig preserves but I thought the basic instructions would lead me, and heaven knows I need to be lead. Thank you all for your patience. BTW, does bottled lemon juice go bad once it's been opened if it's kept refrigerated? I've had mine a good while.

Now, if I can just get an answer to my question about substituting commercially canned diced tomatoes, drained, for the fresh tomatoes in Annie's salsa I'll crawl off and leave everyone alone for a while.

Jude

I'll crawl off and leave everyone alone for a while.

LOL - aw don't do that!! Yes you can sub canned tomatoes. It has come up- in the past.

If plain fig jam/preserves is what you want why not use the NCHFP recipe? They offer both one with added pectin and one without.

Here is a link that might be useful: Making Fig Jam