Southern Fig Preserves

JamesDean'sGirl's Note:

Another of grandma's specialty jams; she got this from a childhood friend of hers. If you're familiar with jam making, these instructions will probably be very clear to you. But for me--I'd need a book like "Preserving for Dummies":) I wonder if there is a book like that, and if there is, let me know!!!! *Again, I'm estimating that prep time and cooking time are both the same--I'm not sure and the recipe doesn't say, so if you know, note me with times and I'll post them.*

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 0 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 2 pints

• 7 cups fresh whole figs
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 lemon, juice of

Directions:

1. Combine the whole figs, sugar, and lemon juice in a large saucepan.
2. Cook and stir until the sugar is dissolved and the juice is as thick as desired (Grandma uses a candy thermometer and stops at the soft-ball stage).
3. Pour the mixture into hot, sterilized canning jars, cap, and store.
4. *Can also be used in homemade jam cakes.
5. *.

Reviews

[Emily C]

I made the recipe as written, put the preserves in a jar, and waited to see what would happen... thinking maaaaybe if the mixture cooled, it wouldn't be so soupy. Nope. Two days later it was still like figs in syrup. Another recipe said to put the preserves in a food processor after cooking. I didn't really want to do this, but also didn't want syrup for preserves. This did the trick! I processed them and cooked them for another few minutes. They thickened up perfectly! Delicious flavor :-) 3 stars just because I didn't really follow the rules! Otherwise, 5 stars.

[Sweetiebarbara]

This was the best of the recipes that I found on the Zaar. I did twice as much fruit (8 cups) to sugar (4 cups), juice of one lemon and zest of half. I also used about 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger. I used a candy thermometer and waited until the jelly sheeted on the spoon. It was easy to make.