Thursday, October 8, 2009

Preserving with Dr. Monkey

We've got a fig tree on our property outside our house. Last year we baked some of the figs and ate some of them raw but we let the rest go bad because we didn't know what to do with them This year we made a vow to not let as many go to waste.

The other day I bought a copy of the magazine Mary Jane's Farm and I saw this recipe in it:

Since Sparky had picked a bunch of figs and put them in the fridge I decided to try this recipe out today. I followed it to the letter, except that I ran the figs, once they were cooked, through our food processor. Then I put the lemon zest and juice in and put them back on the stove to cook for the last five minutes like the recipe says to do.

And you know what? This recipe kicks ass. The fig preserves I made tasted out of this world. And there were enough to almost fill an 8 ounce jelly jar.

So flush with success I went out and picked more figs off our tree and I chopped them up and I combined them with the rest of the figs that Sparky had already picked that I didn't use earlier, which gave me six cups of chopped up figs to work with. So I started making this recipe again, only this time I multiplied the ingredients to match my six cups of figs.

Things were going swimmingly, or so I thought.

It turns out my math was a bit fuzzy and instead of using a cup and a half of water as I should have, I used three cups and my figs were not preserved, they were syrupy. So there I was with five 8 ounce and one 16 ounce jar of fig syrup. Knowing that all that syrup would go bad before we ate it all I dumped out all the small jars and I kept only the 16 ounce jar of figgy syrup.

Lucky for me though, the our fig tree is still full of figs so in a few days when enough ripen I can make try it again. And I'll nail this bee-otch next time. Or my name isn't Dr. Monkey the Fig Preserver.

9 comments:

Margaret Benbow said...

Universal Door County Recipe for all fruit preserves: Fill quart jar with pitted cherries, figs, peaches, or what have you. Pour vodka in, to the top. Cap tightly. Mellow for at least a month, turning bottle upside down when you happen to think of it. Drink liquid slowly through cold winters, by the fire. Sugar the fruit and have it over your best ice cream.

Wings1295 said...

Your talents amaze me, Dr. Monkey!

K.Line said...

Another great try-and-learn success. I bet you could have reduced that syrup down and do something great with it (make ice cream, drizzle over pound cake, freeze it). I am so jealous you have a fig tree...

Barbara Bruederlin said...

We can grow rhubarb, and that's it. So I would really appreciate an invitation to come down there for a fig preserve tasting party. I'll bring a pie.

Keith said...

That's really cool that you've learned a way to use all those figs. I love figs. Good luck with it all.

Ubermilf said...

Thank you. You know I don't know much about figs. I didn't even know they could grow in your climate.

Now, what do you know about kumquats?

Snad said...

Save some for me! Please?

Suzy said...

We love fresh figs and buy them about once every fall. I found a recipe in a Scary Godmother comic book for figs, goat cheese, and prosciutto hors d' oevres. Yum.

Karen Zipdrive said...

Dude!
Slice a baguette into diagonal slices about 3/4" thick.
Spread a half tsp. of good olive oil on each slice.
Add a half fig to each slice, then sprinkle gorgonzola, bleu or other veined cheese over figs. Broil until cheese is bubbly.
Holymotherofbabyjesus they are fabulous.