What happened to all those figs?
One of the interesting parts of trying new things are the little tidbits of information you learn.
I learned that figs are low in acid and you must add acid in order to can and preserve them. So if you change the quantity of figs in a recipe you must adjust the acidity level as well.
Who would have thought?
We also learned that figs+port=YUM!
All the prettiest figs, those with no skin splits or blemishes, went on to become whole canned figs. We ended up with 10 pint!
Figs getting washed
After they have been blanched
In the jar
All finished and pretty :)
All the rest got turned into 5 pints of Fig Preserves!
Before
After
This is super yummy stuff!
We adapted a recipe from this forum to suit our tastes and needs:
5 lbs Figs (washed and stemmed and quartered)
2 1/2 cups Sugar
1 1/4 cups Port
3/4 cups Lemon Juice
1 1/2 TBL Orange Zest
Dash of vanilla extract
Place figs in sauce pan (I didn't want to quarter the figs, but I did anyway), mash if needed (I tried but they didn't mash much)
Cook for 30 minutes (We did but next time I think we will cook them a bit longer and then mash them)
Stir occasionally to prevent sticking (this wasn't much of a problem; maybe we should have had them on a higher heat?)
Add remaining ingredients
Cook for an additional 15 minutes (ours took a bit longer to obtain to correct consistency)
Stirring occasionally
Remove from heat
Spoon into sterlized jars
Cap securely
Place in boiling water bath 10 minutes
This stuff is REALLY good served over vanilla icecream :)
