Fig-Orange-Apple Spread

A sweet fruit sauce.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Yields: 24 ozs

Ingredients

• 15  fresh figs
• 2  small oranges
• 2  small apples
• 3  tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons Chinese five spice powder
• 3⁄4 tablespoon butter
• 8  tablespoons honey

Directions

1. Stem and dice the figs and apples. Peel, seed, and dice the oranges. Place in a 2-quart saucepan.
2. Add everything but the honey and let sit for 30 minutes while the sugar macerates the fruit.
3. Cover and cook on medium heat, stirring regularly, until the apples begin to soften - about 90 minutes (varies, depending on what sort of apples you have.).
4. Lower heat and add honey, stirring constantly. Cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken. Watch carefully so your honey doesn't burn!
5. Remove from heat and pour into a hot boiled jar. Cover tightly. You can either go ahead and can this (boil the jar for 10 minutes in clean water) or simply put in the refrigerator and begin enjoying right away; it should keep for several weeks without any problem. I found that the 5-spice works well for seasoning this, but it's easy to for it to become overwhelming; I mixed it with some blueberry pie filling and baked a crumble with it. Over vanilla ice cream, it was scrumptious.