Vegan Mofo 2013. For weeks, we’ve been having a contest to see who could get to the figs first–me or The Squirrels. As you can imagine, the Squirrels are way ahead, but I did manage to snag a pound a half of these White Italian Honey Figs, and make some easy, vegan fig jam. This fig jam is great with salty crackers on a vegan cheese board. You can double this recipe, and you can use any type of figs–I’ve also made it with Brown Turkey figs.
EASY FIG JAM WITH LEMON AND SESAME
Makes about two 8-ounce jars.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup sugar
1.5 pounds ripe figs, rinsed
zest from one organic lemon
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (no more)
1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds, toasted
DIRECTIONS
In a small skillet over medium heat, toast sesame seeds, shaking the pan gently until seeds turn golden. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, simmer water and sugar, until sugar is dissolved.
Cut each fig into about 8 pieces.
Into the sugar-water, add zest and lemon juice and figs.
Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick and syrupy, 1.5 to 2 hours.
Stir in sesame seeds.
If you want to, you can now use a potato masher to break up some of the fig pieces.
I like a mixed consistency.
Let cool a bit and then ladle into heavy little canning jars.
When fully cool, cap the jars.
Keep in fridge for one month, or put in freezer for up to six months.
Notes: I’ve tried making this with stevia, and did not like the flavor at all. One time I added extra lemon, but that made it taste kind of like Pledge, so keep it subtle. I also tried adding more sesame seeds, but it was too much, threw the balance off. This fig jam is great with salty crackers and vegan cheeses. If you need to collect figs over 2 or 3 days, gently rinse and dry them, and keep them in a covered container in the refrigerator until you get enough.
White Italian Honey Figs
Here’s my haul from day one. It took me two more days to steal enough from the squirrels to make jam.
The picture of health, but not ripe yet.
This fig tree gets cut back each Spring and then it grows about 4-6 feet in one season. You can see it towering over our one-story garage roof here. This fig tree faces SW, and is protected from wind by the garage.