Homemade fig jam, or rather fig preserves, we’ve all learned by now that preserves are for fruit, while marmalade is for citrus. Here is my orange marmalade and my agrumella marmalade. Making jam at home is very simple, we only need good ingredients, the fruit, in this case fresh figs, freshly picked, well-ripened, healthy, and flavorful, just like the good fruit grown in our garden, sweet and tasting like fruit, distinctly different from one fruit to another, compared to commercial fruit which often tastes the same, sometimes sweet, other times bitter, but often tasteless, like not being able to taste apricots, cherries, or even worse, peaches, a real disappointment, especially for those used to eating fruit from their own garden, or at least naturally and genuinely grown, maybe by grandparents or uncles. Having always lived in the countryside, I have been able to appreciate the taste of real fruit, and now that I live in the city, I occasionally return to the countryside to my mom to taste some good fruit, as I did with these figs, which I decided to partially turn into some good jam. I had collected so many that to avoid wasting them, fearing they would spoil, leaving them too many days in a fridge, I took a good portion and prepared the fig jam, which I love, one of the few jams that retains a wonderful fragrance and taste, like the fruits from which it’s made. I had already made this jam last year, I liked it a lot, to eat at breakfast on bread, or also to fill cookies or pies, having lost the files I haven’t given you the recipe yet, but now before I forget again, here I am writing the recipe, sure of your appreciation, and remember, look around for fig trees and get some, so you can prepare excellent homemade fig jam, with plenty of fresh, organic fruit in my case, and with little sugar, slow-cooked until it’s nicely dense, without needing to add any other ingredients like pectin or anything else, just a bit of lemon for flavor.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4 jars
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
Ingredients for Fig Jam
- 4.4 lbs ripe figs
- 1 cup sugar
- juice of 1 lemon
Tools for Making Fig Jam
- 1 Pot
- 1 Ladle
- 4 Jars
Steps to Prepare Fig Jam
Wash the figs, making sure they are well-ripened, free of insects, and healthy. Open them one by one and cut them into pieces, removing the stem but keeping the skin. I used black figs, green figs are also fine, as long as they are well-ripened, so we can use less sugar.
Place the figs in a large, high-sided pot with a thick bottom, add the sugar and the juice of one lemon, stir, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat; if possible, avoid using lids, but if you want to use one to prevent the jam from splattering around the kitchen, place a lid slightly askew without completely covering the pot.
Stir the figs occasionally to prevent the jam from sticking. Always watch the flame, if it’s too high, the jam can easily stick and burn, so it’s better to lower it after the figs come to a boil.
When the figs are sufficiently cooked, blend them with an immersion blender, to obtain a smoother jam, after about 30 minutes, continue cooking for another half hour.
Be very attentive in the last half hour of cooking, as the jam becomes thicker and is more likely to stick, so place the pot on the smallest burner, set to the lowest flame, and keep an eye on the jam without stepping away. When the jam is well thickened and has reduced by more than half, you can turn off the heat. When tested on a saucer, it shouldn’t slide, and at that point, you can jar it.
Store the still-hot fig preserves in washed and sterilized glass jars, see here how to sterilize jars. Close with clean and dry lids and let cool. As it cools, a vacuum will form.
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If you want, you can use a bit more sugar and cook the jam less, up to 500 g of sugar for each kg of figs. I prefer to lengthen the cooking time for a jam with less sugar that keeps well over time.
I recommend using a thick-bottomed pot for cooking, to reduce the risk of burning the jam.
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