Fig Preserves

I don't know about you but Fig Preserves bring back memories of my Grandmama Cora.  She could make such a delicious hand-rolled homemade biscuit, preserves, and jams you ever put into your mouth.  

As kids, we knew she'd always have a biscuit baked baking or in the process of making when you went to see her.  We knew the large walk-in pantry would be filled with good things to put into that biscuit for sure!  

Heck, we've been known to poke a hole in one of those biscuits and fill it with a homemade pickle be it a bread & butter or dill at times. They were so good!

Her Fig Preserves would melt in your mouth for sure. I didn't get her recipe only remember her cooking things down with sugar to preserve.

Thank goodness for old and new canning books for the information they contain.  

My Tip:

The main thing to remember is if your fruit is sweet ripe and delicious your preserves will be delicious too!  Make sure they are ripe. Taste them if they aren't as sweet as you would like then add more sugar to your recipe.  Heck, I know some that have added the same measurement of each fruit and sugar.  You decide and make yours.

Ball Blue Book Guide To Preserving  Recipe  Page 65

FIG PRESERVES  

Yield about 6 half-pint jars

2 quarts figs

2 quarts boiling water

2 2/3 cups of sugar

1 quart water

1 lemon

PREP  Wash figs and lemon under cold running water, drain.  Pour 2 quarts boiling water of figs.  Let stand 15 minutes, drain,.  Rinse figs under cold water, drain.  Cut lemon crosswise into thin slices remove seeds and discard ends.

COOK  Combine sugar, lemon slices, and 1 quart water in a large saucepan.  Bring mixture to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Boil 10 minutes.  Skim syrup to remove foam if necessary.  Remove lemon slices.  Cook figs in syrup one layer at a time over high heat until they are transparent. *(I had a huge pot so I cooked mine all at one time until transparent).  Remove figs and place in a shallow pan.  Boil syrup until it is thick.  Pour syrup over figs and let stand in refrigerator 6 to 8 hours.  Reheat figs and syrup to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Skim off foam if necessary.

FILL  Ladle hot preserves into a hot jar, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Clean jar rim.  Center lid on jar and adjust band to fingertip-tight.  Place jar on the rack elevated over simmering water (180degrees F) in boiling-water canner.  Repeat until all jars are filled.

PROCESS  Lower the rack into simmering water.  Water must cover jars by 1 inch.  Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner, and bring water to a rolling boil.  Process half-pint jars 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and remove cover.  Let jars cool 5 minutes.  Remove jars from canner, do not retighten bands if loose.  Cool 12 hours.  Check seal.  Label and store jars.

*I recently purchased a Ball FreshTech Electric Bath Canner.  I paid about $50 more than this one is now. You can find it at Bed Bath & Beyond at this moment for $149.99. 

*If you have a gas or traditional range that can handle the weight of a heavy water bath canner then of course that is a more reasonable way to go.  My range can't handle the weight now.

Tips on WATER BATH CANNING

Make you a big pan of hot biscuits and try some of your preserves!

These are upside down 

Grandma Cora said, "After a minute or two from the oven turn them over so the bottoms won't sweat."

I've seen her turn her pan over onto a plate with them all intact to cool.

I do recommend that you get this book shown below.  It is a very handy guide to have in any kitchen.

I also like this canning ladle it works great when canning and if you want you can serve a huge bowl of soup using this!  Carly gave one to Chuck and we use it a lot!