Fig Jam

Until a couple of years ago, I'd never come across anyone with a fig tree. Recently, I've met two people growing them locally. This year's been a good one for them and I've been offered surplus figs from both. When one brought some to the pub to give away and offered me what remained at the end of the night, how could I refuse? However, whilst I do enjoy eating them raw, large quantities have a debilitating effect on my digestive system! Not nice when you're a wheelchair user.

In the circumstances, I thought I'd better look for something else to do with them; a trawl of the internet produced a number of recipes for fig jam:

Some of the figs: I had about fifteen in all which made 2½ small (about 8oz) jars of jam. The recipe's easily adaptable for other amounts.

Cut the stalk and the hard bit on the bottom of the fig off and then cut the figs into bite sized pieces, skin and all.

Weigh them, and put them into a large pan. Add half their weight of jam sugar (sugar with added pectin) along with the juice of a large lemon for each 1 - 1½ kg of fruit. Cover with a lid and place on a gentle heat. Bring it to a simmer and cook it for 45 - 60 minutes until the fruit is soft.

Remove the lid and bring it to a rapid boil; stir to ensure that it doesn't stick and boil it for 5 - 10 minutes until a setting point is reached. Be careful not to boil it for too long, you're not making toffee! Bottle in the normal way.