These figs are for my sister, who’s several thousand miles away in London. Read on for how she might get them.
Talking with my sister on the phone last week, the idea came up (as it has done in the past) that she might come and visit me in December, bringing her toddler son. Maybe even other family members would join us. I’ve learned not to entirely pin my hopes on ideas of this sort that float up in conversation as they mostly don’t turn into real plans. We’re a family of procrastinators to some extent, and ideas involving making long terms plans, booking flights and things like that tend to take a while to crystallize – for all of us.
Well, she mentioned that she was tempted to come and try the fig jam, and I realized to my horror that she seemed to think that one of the bottles of fig jam I made a year ago would still be around. She did not know, but I was in the garden standing next to eh fig tree as she spoke. I explained that regretfully, the jam was just far too tasty (and the original quantity of three jars far too small) to have survived my eating it all by now (in fact, it was gobbled up in about a month, I think!), and that there’d likely be no jam this year since I’ve been fighting quite a battle with fig beetles on the one hand, and the birds and some large munching creature (I suspect squirrels, but not sure) that have been getting to the figs before me (mostly the latter two). I’ve been very busy and have not been checking them every day, and so they’ve had plenty of chances to find any newly ripened ones before me.
She was disappointed, and from the other end of the phone I thought I could hear the December Idea’s likelihood of coming to pass reduce further. But that’s life.
Well, over the next couple of days, something odd happened. A whole lot of figs seemed to ripen in quick order and seemed to just magically appear. So much so that I had some for lunch on a couple of occasions and even had the pleasure of bringing some in to work one day and sharing them with a colleague over lunch.
So a few days later after just two quick harvestings I got a bowlful of figs (above). Enough for a batch of jam, I think! So right now I’m in the middle of the jam making, while listening to one of the albums I bought last week after my 70’s mood overwhelmed me – Sister Sledge (ironically and coincidentally). There’s a bit of nostalgia in the air since such music was probably playing back during the time when I first learned about the making of jam and other preserves from watching my mother and sister during the 70s. We had several local hillsides worth of wild growing guavas and mangoes and other fruit with which to make arbitrary amounts of jam and other tasty things. And we did. (This was when I lived for a time in the Caribbean, lest you think England has a secret supply of tropical hillsides.)
Anyway, even though I’m in the middle of jam-making, I’m able to type and tell you all this because I’m at that stage where it’s left to its own devices to simmer. Every now and again I check it, stir, and skim any surface accumulation. I told you all about how I do this about a year ago in a blog post, and so you can read the details there, with pictures. I’ll update this post with a few snaps (perhaps) a bit later.
[Update: Below we have a few shots of the various stages of preparation. Click the thumbnails for larger views. Read the descriptions in my post from last year for how the stages fit together and instructions in case you want to try it yourself (works similarly for other fruit of roughly this consistency).]
Some slicing of the figs into quarters (or smaller if desired), along with preparation of lemon zest and some peel (three more figs were ready on the tree today so I picked them and added them to the ones above):
After melting the sugar in the water and simmering, adding the fig pieces and stirring… letting them come to a boil before simmering.
You can see the much darker consistency (richer colour and flavour) after over an hour of heat and occasional stirring. The jars for bottling are being sterilized in the pan behind. Testing for setting consistency on a very cold dish.
The finished product (two full jars for storing and a few generous spoonfuls for me to sample for breakfast over the next few days):
Much better colour and flavour than last year’s batch, I have to say. I’m very pleased.
This one’s for you, Big Sister!
-cvj
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omg it looks soooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!! i want some now
do they taste good
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The color of your fig jam is beautiful, Clifford.
I think I told you about the fig jam that I made that was less than exciting. Well, after having read your recipe and others, my figs were very likely too dry to begin with.
I have just been looking at some other recipes in my books here.
One is from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook (a great SF restaurant) for Dried Figs in Red Wine. It sounds like a wonderful condiment to have around.
And another one from Daniel Boulud (I have only been to the cafe near the Whitney) is for a sauce with figs, Port and lemon grass. This also reminded me of your recipe.
The sauce is to accompany foie gras.
I am sure feelings are mixed on its consumption, but no denying the great taste.
It may already be illegal here.
I have pretty much been a home cook lately anyway.
Your fig bread was delicious.
I looked for some at the end of the evening and it was all gone.
It was perfect (no extra baking needed).
It just needed to rest (the lesson I never seem to quite learn for myself!).
Cheers and best wishes,
Keitha
Not promising anyone anything once the months of plenty have left us….. 😉
-cvj
I hope to see your big sister and meet your nephew too!
Is there any way I can get some fig jam too?
Brunsli
At my parents’ house in Houston, they have two very prolific fig trees. One easy way to minimize bird and squirrel related losses is to put a few plastic snakes in the branches of the tree. It sounds kind of silly, but it really does work. I also like your jam consistency testing method. Next time I go home and we set up for another jam making session, I’ll have to try that. In the past, our jam consistency wasn’t very consistent.
David- One of my neighbours in Histon (not so far from Granchester Meadows) has a very productive fig tree!
I love blackberry jam. There were several bushes long the path near the Newton Institute in Cambridge some weeks back, laden with fruit. I’d stop on my way to and from the lectures and have a few. They’d have been perfect for jam. Tasty.
Enjoy your jam!
-cvj
Great minds think alike Clifford, after harvesting a good number of blackberries- the fruit rather than the communication device- from grantchester meadows, I too made jam this weekend. Just pointing out that though I am often jealous of the californian weather we too in the UK have good jam fruits. I doubt we could stretch to figs though….
regards
David
A – If the truth be told, I’d say jam-making was pretty easy. I’ve always wondered what the fuss was all about since I was a child. The hardest part is really just the paying attention to not going too long (like not stopping to do a blog post and forgetting what you’re doing)… so checking regularly and stirring regularly. There’s really nothing else to do but put everything in and stir. Patience is the watch-word. I suppose in this day and age, time and patience seem to be harder to find for people, and so maybe it seems a hard task for that reason… but in terms of skill level, I’d say doing a good sunny-side up egg is in fact much harder than making a decent jam, if you’ve got reasonably good ingredients.
I put all the same ingredients as last time. It seemed a bit pointless to go through every detail I did in this post since I did it all a year ago and the details were a click away.
Cheers!
-cvj
C+c – Not making any promises about the outcomes of my attempt at abstinence here. While there are fresh figs on the tree, it will be easy, but as the deep bleak midwinter of Southern California threatens, I may well break down….
-cvj
Emm ….. I’d better book the flight then!!! Pressure is on because I suspect that by the time I get there my jar will be eaten as it takes so good!! Watch out brother!! And believe it or not the fig tree next door in deep south east London is going to rival your output so next year your post will be ‘Yes, my sister likes jamming too!’ and don’t forget the strawberries as well!! Thanks again.
I did read the post from last year, which is why I was curious about the changes. I listed other possibilities, in addition to ones I noticed — for example, it seems from the photos that you didn’t use cinnamon stick (which I love) and brown sugar this year — because I can’t assume what caused the difference. As for the overcooking, I guessed that could be the main reason, but thought that directly saying so would be impolite. A sticky situation (haha), which is why I referred to that as “technique” in trying to be subtle.
I was hoping you’d point out that heat and time were the critical factors, however, because making jam is tricky. Selecting the right moment is important, and that’s why cooking jam takes practice (for those who don’t know and may be inspired to make a small batch). Your method of putting a spoonful on a plate is great.
Thanks for the response!
P.S. “One-way express train to Caramel City” would make a great title for a song. Maybe a blues song about cooking… Okay, I know that’s silly now! : )
No, there’s a simple reason, if you read the end of the past from last year. I overcooked that batch a bit. Sweet stuff and high heat have to be handled delicately at the point where the mixture is beginning to thicken – a moment too long and the taste and colour begin to go south, and you’re on the one-way express train to Caramel City. So while I agree with the positive feelings matters, in this case its much simpler to make the call as to why.
-cvj
I’m not too kind, you’re just too modest! ; )
Happy to hear that the batch turned out well — nice update! I’m curious as to why you think it tastes better than last year. Bear with my food scientist-y questions. Did you modify the recipe? Is your technique improving? Was it more jam-appropriate harvest of figs? Or because you made it for your sister? (The latter being my favorite reason, as making foods for loved ones is such a generous act, and I think the positive feelings can make anything taste better — due to a halo effect. Not that it doesn’t actually taste better, of course!)
will the pics be FIGures?
e.
Aw….you’re too kind!
Jam’s all done now. Two jars. Very very tasty. Much better than last year’s! Will update post with a few pics in a short while.
-cvj
Oh yeah, silly me. Forgot to mention that I enjoyed your pun in the post’s title. I’ll never hear that song in quite the same way again. Clifford, you are just too clever! : )
Really sweet story (pun may or may not be intended). Wonderful luck that you were able to harvest enough figs for a batch of jam. Tempting for anyone, I’m sure. Regardless, I hope your sister can come visit, as I’m sure you’d enjoy it.