Canning - Fig Jam

Canning is my new obsession.  I have a lot of new obsessions.  Queer as Folk, baby carriers, long and complicated recipes that take up my whole afternoon, and now canning.  This is the second time in my life I've canned.  You can read about my first time here canning peaches.

I love fig jam.  The first time I had it was in Tallahassee.  I bought a huge jar for $9 at the county fair.  It just seemed that it would be delicious even though I never actually tasted a fig in my life.  It was heavenly.  We ate most of it with Havarti cheese and crackers.  I was very sad when we moved away from Tallahassee... mostly because I wouldn't be able to buy this fig jam from the old black lady at the county fair.  That's about it.  Oh, and the Live Oak trees.

First, I made the following fig jam recipe.  I didn't can it because it only made a small amount.  Me and about 10 of my closest Mommy-Friends were able to take care of it right quick.  Spicy Fig Orange Microwave Jam is easy and can be whipped up in about 45 minutes.  It's called "spicy" because it has some spices that remind me of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Lovely on my sweet potato muffins.  I'll post that recipe later.

So my obsession continues every time I see figs go on sale at the supermarket.  That happens a lot because not a lot of people buy figs and they discount them when they're very ripe.

I bought some canning jars at Publix and a canning kit accessories for about $5.  I used Matt's brewpot for the boiling part.  Turns out you don't need a ton of equipment to can!  All you need is a ton of whatever it is you want to can.  (By the way, why isn't it called jarring?  My friend Jamie raised that interesting point.) 

Anyway, the last batch of refrigerator fig jam I made I used some gelatin to see how it firms up.  I like my jam on the runny side... the better to put over ice cream, my dear.  The jam was very firm... I didn't like it that much.  So I decided to stick to my no pectin or gelatin route for my big batch.

I used a mixture of the Spicy Fig Orange Jam recipe and this regular old recipe from the Mack Daddys of canning.  Then I realized that I really love that spicy taste and smell.  I added some ginger, cinnamon and some fresh ground cloves.  It made my kitchen smell like Christmas.  I also used orange juice instead of lemon juice and threw in about 3 oranges worth of zest.  It tasted great just out of the pot.  I hope it keeps that way. 

The brew bubbling.  I used a potato masher to squish the fig chunks into tiny itty bits.  Although I do like my jam how I like my men - on the chunky side.

All the jars filled up.  Got ten 8oz jars out of 3.5 containers of figs.  Each container was on sale for $4, regularly close to $8.  Fig jam sells for $6-$10 a jar at the grocery store.  All those numbers = a good price for homemade fig jam.

Hello Gorgeous

You two come here often?

The jars processing in a tall stock pot.  They made a lot of noise clinking and clanking together.  Next time I will put a towel down underneath them in the pot so they won't have the chance to break.  Thankfully, none of these did.

My precious.  

 They all sealed.  They turned out pretty runny in the jar, but again, I like it that way.  I hope others do too because you're getting these babies for Christmas presents.