Fig preserve

Ever since I bought these beautiful figs, I have been scouring my recipe books and the blogosphere for something interesting that i could make with it. I can eat them fresh, love them that way, but wanted to make something with it. By the time I short-listed a few ideas, these delicate figs were already starting to shrivel up a bit.

Baking something with it was a great idea, but again I can sure do without the flour, butter and sugar, so I decided on a simple fig preserve, that way I get to taste them even when they aren't in season any more.


Fig preserve

I didn't realise how simple making a preserve would be. It just took like 5 mins of my time and about 30 mins on the stove, where I really need to do much other than peep in once in a way to check how it was all going.


Fresh figs

Preserves usually use whole fruits and is more chunky and gives you the real flavour of the fruit. This has no pectin and the only added flavour was the cinnamon, which seemed to pair up beautifully with the figs


Figs ready to get 'preserved'

We have had this fig preserve with some parathas, spread it over bread, used it as a topping on vanilla ice-cream and it works fantastically any way you'd like to use it.


Fig preserve

I like the chunky bits that come in the preserve and when I was storing this in the jar, I stuck in the piece of cinnamon that I used to cook with the figs. The cinnamon continues to give its wonderful flavour into the preserve. Simple, pectin-free and pretty low on the sugar. This one really worked well for me

Fresh fig preserve

What you need -

10 figs
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1-2 long sticks of cinnamon broken into two
juice of one lemon

What you do with it -

Wash the figs and then cut them in quaters
Place them in a thick bottomed pan
Sprinkle the sugar and lemon juice over it
Throw in the two pieces of cinnamon
Keep it on a low flame for about 25-30 mins
Cover it for the first 10-15 mins, but keep checking on how fast it cooks
There is no need to add water. The lemon juice and sugar work well enough for this
Once the figs start to break up, stir them a bit
If there are very large chunks of figs, break it down gently with a fork and continue cooking it till it all done and there is not much liquid remaining
Sterilise the jar that you will be storing this in
I just put the jar in a large pot of hot water and allow the water to boil for 10 mins
Take the jar out and allow it to dry it in the sun. Ensure that there is no moisture in the jar
Once the fig preserve has cooled down, transfer it to the jar
Store it in the refrigerator