Wednesday 29 August 2018

Preserving Figs.



It's Fig season, and we are overwhelmed.

Bottling Figs is child's play. They are trimmed of their stems, pricked two or three times with the point of a knife, and dropped into boiling water for about 4 minutes.


They are then cooled in ice-cold water before being placed in their jars. Personally I use 500 gm jars, and place as many as possible in each jar (9-12). The jars are then topped-up with a syrup made from 500 mls water to 300 gms sugar, plus some lemon juice and armagnac.

When sealed, the jars are sterilised for an hour, then left to cool in the water.


This is the result. Fabulous in mid-winter with a big dollop of thick cream! The syrup is pretty good too.

All our 10 Fig  trees are dripping with fruit, and just two jars isn't going to change much, but it does make me feel very slightly less wasteful. I'll probably do some more.

25 comments:

  1. As I said yesterday you have so much that is good there.

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    1. No shortage of Figs. I usually grab a few as I walk by, and of course the horses get their share.

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  2. I adore figs. This looks so easy to make. I might have to try this.

    cheers, parsnip and badger

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    1. It really is simple, and lovely to have in Winter. I will do more.

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  3. Wicked! Wish i had read this a month ago. We've eaten all ours

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    1. Ours go on for at least a month yet. Usually the ground beneath the trees becomes 'carpeted'.

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  4. We have one small fig tree [less than a metre cube in size].... and this is the first year we've had fruit that has ripened... there will not be enough to preserve....
    but we are enjoying the fruits as the ripen... two at a time!!

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    1. I have about 10 trees; some very big, others recently planted. I have three different varieties. When they become established, they go crazy; just wait.

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  5. Replies
    1. I love them too, but can only eat so many.

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  6. I have tried to like figs but they are just too sweet for me.

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    Replies
    1. These bottled Figs are quite sweet, but a couple with a dollop of creme fraiche is delicious.

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  7. I just had some figs last night and they were yummy. You are fortunate to have so many and should bottle more for the winter.

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    Replies
    1. I shall do some more, but not too many. I can't get Lady M too excited about them.

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  8. A new friend has two trees and gave me some figs while I lined up recipes to try. The winner so far (that I only reluctantly tried) is a fig salsa - 3 cups chopped figs, some onion, chopped parsley, equal 2 tablesoon parts seasoned rice wine vinegar and olive oil, salt to taste. We ate the last several days later with pieces of toasted bread dipped in. It was beyond my expectations of how it would taste. Perhaps why it is a good idea to try new recipes!

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    1. At this time of year they always appear in our lunchtime salads. Your salsa sounds really nice; I'll try it. Thanks.

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  9. I should say I don't give a fig but I do really and much prefer them to dates.

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    1. I think most of our figs come from Turkey, so with the currency there down 41% this year they should now be much cheaper, although I haven't seen them locally yet. But then I haven't been looking. Wine harvest here is starting 2 weeks early.

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    2. Most of our grapes around the house are ripe and ready for harvesting. Ours, unfortunately, go directly to the compost. They make quite nice juice, but otherwise they attract the Hornets, and need to be removed.

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    3. You could try hanging bottles of sugar water below the grapes, you'll catch most of the wasps before they can get at the grapes, but I don't know about hornets.

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  10. I have never tasted a fig straight off the tree Cro but buying them here is always a big hit and miss.

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  11. lovely..I used to have access to fresh figs..now I hope for reduced stock in shops as many don't know what to do with them!!

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