Does anyone out there know why my fig jam is such a cheery rose color? I was under the impression that fig jam was going to be an earthy brown color. The jam itself is delicious in a fruity sort of way, but lacks the color that I thought fig jam would be. I'm thinking Fig Newton brown. Anyway, I happily spread some on grilled Tuscan Bread with Gorgonzola Cheese and it was perfectly yummy!!
Here's the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens You Can Can canning cookbook.
- 2 3/4 pounds of fresh Black Mission Figs.(30 to 35)
- 3/4 cup bottled lemon juice
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 1.75 pkg. powered fruit pectin
- 7 cups sugar
- Rinse figs. Remove stems from figs, halve or quarter. Place 1/3 in food processor. Blend until almost smooth. Transfer fruit to large bowl. Repeat with remaining figs. Measure 5 cups fig pulp.
- In an 8 qt. heavy pot stir together the fig pulp, lemon juice, water and pectin. Heat over high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Add sugar all at once. Return to full rolling boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off foam with a metal spoon.
- Immediately ladle jam into hot sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4 inch head space. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids. Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes( start timing when water returns to a boil). Remove jars from canner; cool on wire racks.
I only had 2 pounds of figs so I played with the amounts of lemon juice, water, pectin and sugar. It came out great.
Here is just two of the six jars I made of my funny color fig jam. Pretty color though, don't you think?
