Fig Jelly

Last time on CCT, I talked about a fig balsamic glaze made with fig jelly. If you've never had fig jelly, you are missing out. The BF makes an amazing fig jelly and he agreed to do a guest post! So here it is...

This is a little late but sometimes good things come to those who wait, or so they say. I decided to make some fig jelly finally. I guess it is really preserves, but I call all these types of things jelly. I had all these figs in the freezer from slowly hoarding them over the summer. There's this really big fig tree that nobody takes advantage of and if it wasn't for me they would all go to the birds...and rats.

It was only a couple of years ago that I had tried fresh figs for the first time. I'm not really into a lot of fruits like some people, but I really enjoyed the figs, especially right off the tree. This new found discovery for me, and the fact that I have a tendency to squirrel things away, prompted me to try putting some of these figs away in the form of a jelly. It turned out to be a fairly straightforward process, but I did manage to make a few sticky messes out of it along the way. The word on the street is that one should not double a recipe for jellies, but I did not heed this and I think it turned out well. The guidelines came from "The Joy of Cooking." I really only used this recipe to figure out what proportions of figs, lemon juice, and sugar to use, and for processing time. Apparently, figs are low in acid, so the lemon juice is necessary for preservation. I also processed much longer than what is called for in "Joy."

Fig Jelly (adapted from Joy of Cooking)

• 4 pounds fresh figs washed, stemmed and quartered
  
• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (This turned out to be 3 lemons)
• Enough jars (pint or 1/2 pint) to contain ~ 4 pints of jelly

Mix the figs and sugar in a big pot and simmer on the stove for about 30 minutes. I cooked them longer because I wanted to break apart the chunks a little bit more. While this was happening I got the jars ready and my boiling water started so that I could get the jars boiling as soon as I packed them. After simmering, I added the lemon juice and turned up the heat until it was rapidly boiling - constantly stirring. This is when it should reach the jelling point. I tested this by pulling out a sample and watching it gel as it cooled. I removed the pot from the burner and spooned the jelly into the jars leaving 1/4 inch head space, screwed the lids on, and processed for one hour. I then removed the jars to cool.