Fig & Brandy Conserve
Late August has brought a bumper crop of figs on the trees in our garden in Tbilisi, it’s been a hot summer so the fruits have ripened well. I also discovered that there were other varieties of Fig available on the market at a fair price — with that in mind we went into jam making mode.
Thinking about what we wanted from a conserve we decided that a little citrus bite would give depth, so we use the pith of 2 lemons as a starter
We then used 2 specific types of fig, but one would do just as well… approximately 2kg of fruit all chopped into 1cm cubes
Then we decided on another classic local ingredient: brandy. Nothing too high class because the alcohol is going to be evaporated off, its just that burnt caramel taste we want…
In total that’s 200ml of Brandy
Next up is approximately 1.2kg of sugar — the figs are pretty sweet already. Take all the ingredients and mix together in our cooking pan. They should be allowed to combine for about an hour.
The first stage of cooking sees us bring the mixture to a boil, which will take about 15 mins… following that we cook up at a medium temperature for another 40 mins, stirring from time to time.
The second stage sees us reduce the temperature to low and simmer for about an hour or until we reach the consistency we like. I added half a sachet of apple pectin at the end to make a slightly more solid end product, but these things are down to your taste.
Finally you will need sterilised jars to hold about 3kg of conserve, I just give them a good bath in boiling water but a quick roast in the oven will do as well.
After filling and lidding you can boil up the jars for about 15 mins to ensure that a vacume is created and the conserve will then keep for about a year unrefrigerated, however as soon as you do open it do keep it refrigerated… if it lasts that long.
Serving suggestions… well, given this is somewhere between honey, chocolate and caramel it goes remarkably well with cheeses and meats, but of course it will do just as well with salty butter on toast.
Packaging design is a play on words – It means something like not f***** up jam. Which is about right…
