FIG JAM WITH LEMONS

As a kid I remember when my father used to buy figs for a special occasion, both my mom and him would go crazy about them. I couldn't understand why, the texture, the flavor, it just wasn't right for me. After many moons, I moved to Ibiza and I discovered the fig trees and our love affair begun: Clara & Mr. Fig, yes! Over there, the fig trees grow wild, everywhere you go you'll find one, standing next to a carob and an almond tree. My favorite part of the day was to go for a walk in the afternoons with an empty basket and fill up with fresh figs directly from the trees and enjoy the refreshing air of the countryside. Oh Ibiza! It has something special, Im sure whoever has been there knows what Im talking about, its somehow magical and mysterious.

Going back to figs, I discovered that not only there where black figs but green figs, and what a discovery!  I liked them so much more. I don't live in Ibiza anymore but Im still in Spain, and very close to where I live its full of figs, carob, pomegranates, grapes, avocados, lemons, oranges, etc, can't complaint right? So a couple of days ago we went for a nice walk and picked up like 3 kg of figs! And when I came back  I remembered that the last time I went back home, a good friend of mine gave me, as a gift, a jar of fig jam. It was absolutely delicious so I decided to give it a try. Thank you May!

This recipe though, calls for much less sugar than traditional recipes. I used jaggery instead of white sugar and reduced its amount for less than half of it. The result was amazing but mind you that because the sugar acts as a preservative it will not last as long. So I just keep my jars in the fridge.

You can reduce the recipe by half easily.

I highly recommend you make this, It's perfect to welcome the autumn and enjoy it with  a good slice of toasted bread  and a cup of tea.

FIG JAM WITH LEMONS

Ingredients:

2 kg. fresh figs

500 grs. jaggery

2 lemons, zest and juice

pinch of salt

Directions:

Remove hard stems from figs, wipe the dirt off and chop them into small pieces leaving the skins on.

Put the jaggery and 1/2 cup of filtered water into a heavy pot. Cook on a medium heat until the jaggery is dissolved. Add the chopped figs with the lemon zest and lemon juice. Simmer until the jam is thickened and the pieces are broken down ( it will depend on the water content of the fruit).  I cooked mine for 2 hours, mixing every 10 minutes. When ready, I decided to liquidize it as I like jams quite thin, but its totally up to you.

Pour jam into sterilized jars and keep refrigerated.

Chopped figs

After 15 minutes

After 1 hour

Ready!

I will embrace the arrival of the autumn and have a nice mate with a piece of toast and fig jam. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
See you next week!

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