The neighbour across the way has a fig tree that’s been dropping fruit onto her step for a fortnight, and this morning she caught me coming back from the market and put a basin of them into my hands before I could say anything useful. Black figs, most of them split and sticky, with a warning that the wasps were winning and she’d had enough of them. I ate three before I’d even taken my coat off. There is no dignified way to eat a fresh fig and I’ve stopped looking for one.
So the afternoon went to jam. A kilo of them, wiped, topped and quartered, the same weight in sugar, the juice of a lemon, and nothing else — no vanilla, no rosemary, none of my usual meddling. Figs carry very little pectin of their own, which is why the lemon matters more than you’d expect; it isn’t really there for the taste, it’s there so the thing actually sets. I cooked it slowly and skimmed the foam until the colour went from purple-black to something closer to dark honey.
The trick I keep meaning to pass on is the saucer in the freezer. Put a small plate in there before you start, and when the jam looks about right, drop a spoonful onto the cold plate, wait half a minute, and push it with your finger. If it wrinkles and holds a skin, it’s done. If it slides, you cook it another five minutes and try again. Far better than guessing, and it costs nothing but a saucer.
Five jars, one of which went back across the road before it had properly cooled. The kitchen is still tacky in the places I’ll discover tomorrow, and the jars are ticking quietly as they cool, which is a sound I never get tired of. The rest are on the shelf beside the peppers now, and the wasps can have whatever’s left on the tree — I think that’s how the arrangement was always meant to work.
Recipe: Fig Jam
Ingredients
- 1 kg ripe figs, washed and stemmed
- 500 g sugar
- juice of 1 lemon
Preparation
- Quarter the figs and put them in a wide, heavy pot with the sugar and lemon juice. Stir and leave 30 minutes so the sugar starts to draw out the juice.
- Bring slowly to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved completely.
- Cook at a gentle boil, skimming off the foam now and then, until the jam thickens and darkens, 40–60 minutes depending on the figs.
- Test for set with a chilled saucer: drop a spoonful on the cold plate, wait 30 seconds, and push it with a finger — if it wrinkles, it’s ready; if not, cook 5 minutes more and test again.
- Pour into clean, warm jars, seal, and turn upside down for 5 minutes. Keeps several months in a cool dark place; refrigerate after opening.