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Home » How To Make Homemade Fig Preserves

How To Make Homemade Fig Preserves

By 61 Comments

How To Make Homemade Fig Preserves

I have been wanting to make homemade fig preserves for many years.  So today I am going to share How to make homemade fig preserves with you.

My obsession with making fig jam or homemade fig preserves started over 10 years ago when I bought a self-pollinating brown turkey fig tree. 

 

 Homemade Fig Preserves recipe via flouronmyface.com

If you have ever planted a fruit tree you know it takes a few years for the fruit tree to mature enough to bare fruit. Well, let’s just say someone came a little too close to the base of my fig tree a couple of times too many with a lawn mower or weed eater. The fig tree has been gone awhile now but I still have dreams of growing my own figs one day.

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Fresh Figs are only available in the grocery stores for a very short time here in Florida and they are usually very expensive. Last summer I got lucky and caught some brown turkey figs on sale and snatched a couple of containers up. Since it was an impulse buy I had no idea how many figs I would need so I bought a couple of containers and hoped I had enough to make a batch of fig preserves. 

fresh brown turkey figs make a delicious Fig Preserves. Get canning with those plump sweet fresh figs via flouronmyface.com

Fresh Brown Turkey Figs

I love the way this homemade Fig Preserves recipe turned out. It tastes great on toast and on a bagel with cream cheese. I can also see using it as a filling for cakes or a strudel.

Homemade Fig Preserves recipe from flouronmyface.com

 Enjoy the recipe Summer will be here before you know it and when it’s fig season you will be looking for the perfect homemade fig preserve recipe!

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Print the How To Make Homemade Fig Preserves recipe below.

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homemade jam recipes, fig jam, fig preserves, fig recipes,

How To Make Homemade Fig Preserves

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Arlene Mobley - Flour On My Face
  • Prep Time: 25 mins
  • Cook Time: 45 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Yield: 7 Pints
  • Category: Preserves
  • Method: Hot Water Bath Canning
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

If you can get your hands on fresh figs you will want to read this How To Make Fig Preserves recipe so you can take advantage of fresh fig season. This Homemade Fig Preserves recipe was made with fresh Brown Turkey Figs but you can use whichever type of fresh figs you have. Make fig jam or fresh fig preserves so you can enjoy the flavor of fresh figs all year long. Making preserves from fresh figs is a great way to extend fig season through the winter months.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups trimmed, and roughly cut brown turkey figs
  • 7 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 1 tsp lime zest
  • 1 teaspoon margarine or butter
  • 1 packet liquid pectin

Instructions

  1. Wash, trim stems and slice figs into 4th.
  2. Add first six ingredients to a large pot and let sit about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Meanwhile boil jars.
  4. Put flat lids in a small pot of water and boil then turn off the heat.
  5. On medium heat bring ingredients to a full rolling boil.
  6. Boil for about 10 minutes.
  7. Stir in packet of liquid pectin.
  8. Continue stirring until ingredients come to a full boil.
  9. Stop stirring and boil for exactly one minute.
  10. Remove pot from hot burner.
  11. Allow preserves to settle.
  12. Skim foam off top.
  13. Fill jars.
  14. Process 20 minutes in a hot water bath.

Notes

Calories are for an entire Pint jar.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: Per Pint
  • Calories: 848

Keywords: Fig Preserves, Homemade Fig Jam, Fresh Fig recipes

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Reader Interactions

Comments

          • All u have to do is wash ur figs, break off the stems and rinse well. Throw(any amount) in pot with as much sugar as u’d like. SUGAR is a natural preservative. U can add abt 1/4 cp. water. Cook on low heat until figs are the consistency you like. They become dark brown and Very soft like candied yams. If at this point, they don’t taste sweet enough, just add a little more sugar until you find it sweet enough. Figs also make their own juices. If you want them to make more of a thicker juice, cook a little longer. That’s all u need to do. I like mine with with extra fig juice, r u can call it a syrup, doesn’t matter, because I love fig sandwiches. I love my bread soaked with its juice. My Mother uses less water cuz she makes fig cakes. And this is the easiest and most delicious figs u will ever eat. U can put it in zip lock bags and freeze it up to a year, or u can put it in mason jars. When canning, put figs in jar, close tight and flip jar over on its lid. And ur done. Please don’t waste ur time putting lemons and other things cuz if u do, after a period of time ur figs will start tasting like lemons. It over powers the sweetness. So save ur self time and money and do it the Cajun way. I promise you won’t regret it….

      • Arlene…I just learned something that probably has a few people confused about fig preserves and fig jam. MY wife wanted to make some fig newtons so she bought a jar of jam and I ate a spoon of it, it was so sweet I couldn’t eat anymore. I think when people use so much sugar in figs, they are actually making fig jam, not the preserves. I am diabetic so I have to watch my sugar intake, that is why I love my fig preserves so much and have gotten so many complements on them. For ten cups of figs, I only use between two and three cups of sugar, I add a diced up lemon with the pealing on it, (slice a lemon in1/4 inch slices then dice those slices up in smaller pieces) and then I normally add a couple tablespoons or so of cinnamon. I cook that at a medium low temp for about two hours or so, I sample it every few minutes to see if it has the texture and flavor I am desiring. You can thicken up the syrup by letting it cook longer, my mom does that occasionally. Might give this a try and see how it compares to what you made, no harm in experimenting around. I just don’t like it when my figs turn into a jelly looking jam, have to watch how sweet I make it. Fig Jam taste too much like fig newtons, maybe that is why many I have spoken to don’t like the newtons because of the extreme sweetness they claim they have. That is why I think many have fig preserves confused with fig jam. Jam is very seedy, preserves isn’t. I am sure using freshly picked figs is different than buying store bought ones, figs need to ripen naturally on the tree, not in a bag. Hope this helps you out.

        Reply

          • Arlene…I noticed something about your figs in the photo, they have a wide white rim and then a pinkish cente. I have a tree I get a few figs off of and they look the identical same way and a lady at a large nursery in San Antonio told me they were Celeste figs. They are rather large figs, about the size of a golf ball or silver dollar. If your were that large, they very well could be these Celeste. Brown Turkey and Texas Everbearing are smaller, about the size of a quarter in diameter. There are so many types, I get confused. I took some cuttings off this light purple rather large fig tree and am going to try and start some new trees from this. This winter I will try a different method with the cuttings dormant. Hope it works, these are excellent figs with virthally completely closed up ends so no bugs or worms can get in. Have fun making fig preserves.
            By the way, the more I look at those filled jars, the more they look like fig jam or jelly, not preserves. The jam is way too sweet for me.

          • I presently have six trees Arlene, three each of the Alma and Celeste and a California Black Mission, I am trying to find one more and am looking for the largest variety I can find. I understand some get as large as tennis or hard balls, would love to find one of those. You know how we are in Texas about things being big…lol. I just think it would be neat to have a fig tree with figs as big as a hardball or your fist. Wouldn’t take many to make a quart of preserves. I have access to lots of the Brown Turkey but am getting tired of those smaller figs.

        • I pick figs from trees that are my neighbors and some from my mother’s tree. They are different. Different types of fig trees. But all and all if you cook them the same way, they all come out delicious. I don’t like fig newtons very much. For those that can’t have too much sugar than by all means use less. It still all comes down to how sweet u like em!!!! I don’t make mine into a jam but i’m sure I could if I’d put them into a blender first r simply just cooking and smashing them in ur pot. There is no DIFFERENCE. All u need is figs (butter and water), or no butter . Some use brown sugar wht cinnamon. I prefer the figs natural flavor. And u can’t put a recipe on this. It’s too simple. Wash ur figs, put in pot, add sugar, a bit if water and cook slowly. You’ll get it right every time. Keep tasting as u go for sweetness. Some like a thick syrup, some don’t but please don’t put lemons cuz after a while, that lemony flavor will over ride ur sweet fig flavor. And remember, SUGAR is the only preservative u need. U can’t be beat with a simple fig recipe.

          Reply

          • Nora

            Thank you for all of your fig preserving tips. I bought a fig tree this year and it has some figs on it already! Can’t wait to pick my first fresh figs this summer.

            ★★★★★

    • Talk about weird, guess what I have been doing for the past four hours, yeah, putting up about ten pints of fig preserves made from my favorite fig, the Texas A&M Alma fig, I prefer them over any other. Just thought I’d throw that in since fig preserves is the topic here. I picked about two gallons of them earlier today.

      Reply

  2. We have a fig tree and I am always looking for another recipe to make with the fruit that it bares. Thanks for sharing this! If you are ever looking for another real food recipes linky, please join us at Tuesday Greens. I’d love to have you and hope that you have a great week!

    Reply

  4. Good Evening Arlene, I adore figs and when I lived on the Island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean I had two fig trees in my garden, so I had an abundance of figs in October and November. Now that I live in England I have to buy figs from the market, so I have printed your recipe for Fig Preserve so that I am ready and waiting for the season to arrive. Although I will have to wait until the end of the year, I am definitely going to be enjoying Fig Preserve.
    Thank you for your recipe I really can’t wait to try it.
    Best Wishes
    Daphne

    Reply

  7. Arlene,
    Your Fig Preserves are just beautiful! I will sure be trying this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome post with Full Plate Thursday and have a great weekend!
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

    Reply

  8. Wow! I love your idea of fig preserves. And I’m sure it tastes great on toast. and with some cream cheese? mamma mmmiaa!

    Reply

    • Black missions seem darker, I would think they are most likely Brown Turkey’s or the Texas everbeariing variety. I use those also but my favorite is the Alma fig, they are green up until they ripen then they turn yellow. They get dark spots but that doesn’t hurt the taste or quality of the preserves. The small celeste are also very desirable and I have used those a lot. I love fig preserves, have all my life.

      Reply

        • If you are referring to the figs in the photos, those look to me like Brown Turkeys. Just my opinion but black missions seem darker than those. I have a couple trees of the Brown Turkey that I harvest from and they look identical and about the size of a silver dollar or golf ball.

          Reply

  10. My Brown Turkey fig tree had so many figs last year l had to freeze them and l put them up in small batches….but l have never used butter in them…now l have to try this!!

    Reply

    • BeBe I would love to have a fig tree! Years ago I planted one but we had couple of hurricanes that year and it didn’t make it. I always add a bit of butter or margarine when I am cooking my jams. It cuts way back on the foam.

      Reply

  11. Oh..and btw…my Brown Turkey figs get that dark too…..some years darker than others…l think it is related to the amount of rainfall 🙂

    Reply

  14. I learned from my 91 year old mom who makes the best preserves I have ever eaten and I have eaten a heck of a lot. I have already put up about 15 quarts this year and in my own personal opinion, this recipe calls for entirely way too much sugar. To make six cups of figs, I only use about two cups of sugar at MOST, I slice a lemon up in small pieces and I do not add any lemon juice or margarine, I want fig preserves with a fig taste, not lemon preserves with too much of a lemon taste, my aunt use to use way too much lemon and they didn’t taste near as good. I repeat, this is just my own personal opinion, I also add a few teaspoons of water to help create more juice so the figs don’t dry out when in long storage. You can try it with this much sugar but I would suggest you also try it with about 1/3 what this recipe calls for. Good luck…

    Reply

  15. Hi, my name is DebrahAnna (Debi) and I have a very old white fig tree I wish I could show you a picture, if you would like I plan on rooting some of the green branches I have had success doing it before I would love to send you a couple so you can grow your own figs, my tree came from Italy my Father in law had gone back home to Italy and he brought it home, that was about 20 years ago and my tree has flourished I have so many figs I don’t know what to do with them all so I’m going to try your recipe. White figs are so much rarer then the purple ones. Let me know if you would like a couple once I root some.
    Blessings, DebrahAnna

    Reply

    • Hey Arlene and DebrahAnna, I would absolutely love a cutting of the white fig so could you please send her a message for me. I use to have one in Louisiana but when I moved it didn’t make the trip to North Carolina and I’ve just been sick about it. Thank you so much! I love your blog. When I make fig preserves I only use sugar and a bit of water..thanks again!!

      ★★★★★

      Reply

      • Hi Bea

        I haven’t heard back from DebrahAnna about the fig cutting : ( I am sorry to say. I did just buy a Olympian Fig tree at Lowes last week. I’ll be growing it in a container for now. It would be exiting if I see a few figs on it this year!

        ★★★★★

        Reply

  16. Can this recipe be made with dried figs, if so how much is needed? I would like to try it. it looks so yummy.

    Reply

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