Fig preserves are made with fresh figs, lemon juice and sugar is ready in 45 minutes. This easy fig jam recipe is the reason I planted a fig tree in my yard!
This small batch homemade fig jam recipe is perfect to serve alongside your favorite charcuterie and cheese boards, spread on fried goat cheese topped crostini, or bring another layer of sweetness to your favorite savory sandwich, grilled pizza or burger.
The big fig season is short and lasts for the months of August through October, depending on your location. But the first or "breba" season is the first few weeks in June and those figs grow on the 'old wood' or the branches that survived the winter. The second, and usually larger harvest, or "new wood" season typically runs from August through October.
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✨ Here is why this recipe is amazing:
- This simple recipe is the best way to enjoy juicy figs all year long!
- Simple ingredients and step by step instructions will give you fig jam sucess.
- Similar to preserved figs this fig spread but comes together faster than the preserved figs.
- Use extra figs to make dehydrated figs.
🥫 Ingredients needed:
- Fresh figs
- Sugar
- Water
- Lemon (juice and rind)
- Salt
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
📝 Ingredient notes:
- Figs - use ripe figs that are soft to the touch and on the verge of being overripe.
- Sugar - I use granular white sugar but for an unrefined sweetness, honey can be substituted in equal parts
- Lemon - use an organic lemon for this recipe as you are going to be using the entire lemon in the jam. The pith of the lemon is a source of natural pectin so extra pectin is not needed in this recipe.
- Salt - just a ¼ teaspoon of table salt is needed. It helps pull out the moisture from the figs and enhances the sweetness of the preserves
🥣 Helpful Kitchen Tools
- Canning Jars - Be sure they are canning jars. I use a 4 ounce Ball canning jar for this recipe. Glass jars do not equal canning jar.
- Lids.- These can not be reused from batch to batch. Get new lids.
- Rings - These are used to keep the lids tight to the jars are they process in the hot water bath.
- Wide-Mouth Funnel - Great for getting your product IN the jar…not on the counter
- Lid Wand - This is essential for safely getting the sterilized lids on the jars without burning your fingertips!
- Ladle - Needed to get your hot recipe, pickling liquid or juice in the jars. (A heat-safe mug can be used in a pinch)
- Clean Cloth - These are used to wipe the rim of the jar before the lid is applied.
- Large Pot - A large pot that can accommodate canning jars PLUS 1-2 inches of water.
- Tongs or Jar Lifters - ESSENTIAL for getting the jars out of the simmering water.
🔪 How to make this recipe
- Wash the figs in cold water and trim off the stems. Remove any blemishes from the fruit.
- Slice the figs in half and then in quarters and place in a large pot.
- Sprinkle the salt and granular sugar over the figs and allow to rest for 30 minutes to get the best results for extracting the juice from the fresh fruit.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon rind and water to the pot.
- Heat the fig preserves ingredients in the pot on the stovetop over medium heat. Stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves.
- Reduce the heat to low and reduce the jam for about 45 minutes to 1 hour (or until the syrup is thick and holds a channel when a spoon is pulled through it.)
- Remove the lemon rind from the pot.
- If the figs are particularly large, use a wooden spoon or a potato masher to break apart the big chunks of figs.
- Spoon into jars, allow to cool and store in the refrigerator.
🔄 Variations
- Low sugar recipe - the amount of sugar you use will depend on how sweet the variety of figs is, the ripeness of the figs and your personal taste. If you want to reduce the sugar by up to half, be sure to replace the sugar with water or apple juice and make sure the jam reduces enough to thicken.
- Fig preserves without lemon. - The lemon, including the lemon zest, will act as a natural thickener for the jam. You can omit the lemon if you wish. The jam may be more of a 'loose' spread but it will be just as delicious.
- Additional flavors - add a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a teaspoon of vanilla paste, 2 tablespoons of red wine or brandy, a sprig of rosemary or any combination of these additional flavors. Remove the rosemary sprig before canning the hot fig jam.
Canning Instrucitons
- Prepare your hot water bath canner
- Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving ½-inch headspace at the top of the mason jar.
- Remove air bubbles. Wipe rims of jars. Center lid on jar and adjust band to fingertip-tight.
- Place jar on the rack elevated over simmering water in a boiling water bath, repeat until all jars are filled.
- Lower the rack into simmering water. Cover with enough water to cover the jars by 1 inch.
- Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner and bring water to a full rolling boil.
- Process half pint jelly jars 10 minutes. (or 15 minutes if your altitude is above 6,000 feet)Turn off heat and remove cover.
- Let jars cool 5 minutes. Remove jars from canner; do not retighten bands if loose.
- Cool 12 hours. Test seals. Label and store jars.
❄️ Storage Tips
Store fig preserves in the refrigerator for up to a month. If you choose to do the water bath canning method of preserving store those jars, once stored in a cool dark place, will have a shelf life of up to a year.
📝 Frequently asked questions, answers and tips:
Black mission figs, Bourjassotte Grisé figs, Adriatic figs, Brown Turkey figs, Calimyrna figs will all work for jam. You may have to adjust the amount of sugar you use depending on the sweetness of the fig and the sweetness you like your jam.
When making jam it is not necessary to remove the skin from the fig but if you like your fig preserves to be smoother, feel free to scoop out the fig flesh with a spoon.
👩🍳 Chef tip:
- This recipe can be doubled or tripled. For best results, weigh the figs instead of measuring them in a dry measuring cup.
- This recipe is an old-fashioned fig preserves recipe that only uses a wooden spoon or potato masher to crush the figs. I love this method because you get nice chunks of juicy figs in your preserves. But if you like a smoother jam, you can use an immersion blender after the jam has thickened to make it smoother or chop figs in a food processor before you start the cooking process.
More Jam Recipes:
- Seedless Black Raspberry jam
- Blueberry Jam
- Peach Jam
- Fig Preserves
- Tomato Jam
- Strawberry Jam
- Hot Pepper Jam
- Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Printable Recipe Card
Fig Preserves
There is more to a recipe than just the recipe card. Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Ingredients
- 1 pound figs fresh
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice plus the rind of the lemon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Wash the figs in cold water and trim off the stems. Remove any blemishes from the fruit.
- Slice the figs in half and then in quarters and place in a large pot.
- Sprinkle the salt and granular sugar over the figs and allow to rest for 30 minutes to get the best results for extracting the juice from the fresh fruit.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon rind and water to the pot.
- Heat the fig preserves ingredients in the pot on the stovetop over medium heat. Stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves.
- Reduce the heat to low and reduce the jam for about 45 minutes to 1 hour (or until the syrup is thick and holds a channel when a spoon is pulled through it.)
- Remove the lemon rind from the pot.
- If the figs are particularly large, use a wooden spoon or a potato masher to break apart the big chunks of figs.
- Spoon into jars, allow to cool and store in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
Nutritional facts are estimates and are provided as a courtesy to the reader. Please utilize your own brand nutritional values to double check against our estimates. Nutritional values are calculated via a third party. Changing ingredients, amounts or cooking technique will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
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