Today was the day to make my first batch of fig preserves for the year. I’ll have to make several more batches in order to have as much as I want for the year. Not only do I love smashing up the figs on my toast in the morning but one of my very favorite cakes is a fig preserve cake. So easy and so moist and so delicious! The cake recipe calls for 1 cup of fig preserves and by the time I mash them up, it ends up using pretty much one pint of fig preserves.
I started with 27 cups of figs and ended up with 11 pints of preserves.
Jalapeno Fig Preserves
Another way we like to enjoy fig preserves is over brie with toasted walnuts. For this, we like jalapeno peppers mixed in with the figs. While making preserves today, I kept out enough figs to have brie tonight.
Canned Goods
I also canned 6 quarts of tomatoes this morning. For the figs, I ended up with 5 pints of jalapeno figs and 6 pints of regular figs.
When making the syrup for the preserves, I made a bit extra because it’s so good with the lemon, cinnamon and fig flavors to use in our Sodastream fizzy water.
Also, a friend had given us a jar of tomatillo/jalapeno preserves and Vince wanted me to try to make some of those. I couldn’t find a recipe so I did basically what I do to make Cowboy Candy (candied jalapenos) but left out some of the sugar and added a bit of garlic. I’ll get Vince to taste what I made after it’s had a chance to sit for a few days and he can tell me if I’m close. I had picked a few jalapeno peppers so I went ahead and made one jar of Cowboy Candy. I’ll make more once I get more jalapenos.
Cowboy Candy, Tomatillo/Jalapeno preserves and Fig Syrup
It’s 2 quarts and 1 of the 1-1/2 pint jars of fig syrup, 1-1/2 pints of Cowboy Candy and 1 pint of Tomatillo/Jalapeno preserves.
It’s been a busy day in the kitchen!
Phyllis says
Have you made the fig preserves with Jello that taste like strawberry preserves? Not thinking I have ever had plain fig preserves. That means my grandma and my mother did not like them.
Dar in MO says
The fig preserves sound good. I have never tasted or really heard of anyone making them. I wonder if they might have them at Trader Joe’s. I have lead such a sheltered life! 🙂
Donna Minter says
Fig cake is one of our favorites. My mom used to grow the brown turkey figs and give me jars of the preserves to make the cake. She is gone now, so no more preserves.