Spiced Fig Preserves

I had lots of ripe figs and I could not eat any fruit at the time (pre competition). Bleh!

Figs are my absolute favorite and I did not want to miss this crop, so I had to do something. I froze some to add them to oatmeal later in a week or so, but I ccould not do that with all of them. I decided to make my fig jam, it is wonderful on toast, on meats, on a spoon! David likes it on toasted whole wheat with goat cheese and the preserves on top.

This is easy to make and it keeps in the refrigerator for 2 months, no canning required!


1 1/2 pounds ripe figs, halved (about 4 cups)
1/2 a large lemon, thickly sliced, seeded (do not peel!)
1 cup Splenda, or other sweetener (or sugar if not concerned about calories)
1 3 inch piece cinnamon stick
1 1/4 teaspoons peeled, minced fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Finely chop the lemons in a food processor. Add figs. Using on/off turns, process until figs are coarsely pureed. Transfer mixture to a heavy saucepan. Add Splenda or sugar, cinnamon stick, ginger and cloves. Simmer until mixture thickens to jam consistency and candy thermometer registers 200 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring often, about 20 minutes. 

Discard cinnamon stick, divide hot jam into hot, clean jars. Cover tightly and refrigerate up t o 2 months.


Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

This is a stunning recipe for figs, all fig lovers must try this! It is from Bon Appetit magazine, October 1998.

Sign of Change

This is my wonderful fig tree in the backyard. David and I planted this when it was very tiny, almost 18 years ago. It was the very first thing we planted in our barren yard when we bought our home.

You may have noticed that it appears to be growing sideways,  in fact, it is. It hasn't always grown like this, but this summer, as it was loaded with fruit it started listing and leaning and it is almost on the lawn at this point.

Figs are one of the most nutritious fruits you can eat. They contain 250 mg of calcium per 100 grams, compared to whole milk with only 188 mg!

As a token of honor, figs were used as a training food by the early Olympic athletes, and figs were also presented as laurels to the winners as the first Olympic medals.
 

The Romans regarded Bacchus as the god who introduced the fig to mankind. This made the tree sacred, and all images of the god were often crowned with fig leaves. The first figs of the season were offered to Bacchus, and at festivals in his honor, devout females wore garlands of dried figs.

Pliny, the Roman writer (52-113 AD) said, “Figs are restorative. They increase the strength of young people, preserve the elderly in better health and make them look younger with fewer wrinkles.”

The Persian King Xerxes, after his defeat by the Greeks at Salamis in 480 B.C., had figs from Attica served him at every meal to remind him that he did not possess the land where this fruit grew.

Figs are mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, as well as the Odyssey; by Aristophanes, Herodotus and Cato; and the fig is reported to have been the favorite fruit of Cleopatra, with the asp that ended her life being brought to her in a basket of figs.

It is very sad to me, I have climbed this tree, used the leaves to cook many dishes, gathered figs twice a year and savored the wonderful sweet fruit.

We have enjoyed the stunning scarab beetles that eat the rotting fruit and will dive bomb us, and the hundreds of crows that will sit menacingly atop the tree, eating all the uppermost ripe fruit. It will be gone by winter.

It has made me contemplate change and life. Things don't always turn out the way we want, or they take a "turn".
 

I don't want to lose my fig tree, but it now gives me an opportunity to plant a new one, placed in the correct setting according to everything else in the yard, and ensure it will thrive.

 

It has made me realize that I too can make changes, and I will thrive. I have felt change simmering for a long, long time now.I mean that I think I need to take some serious time off from competing.

I mention it now and again and everyone says "oh, it's just because you are close to your competition" or you will change your mind afterward" maybe yes, and maybe no.

I would actually like to see just how big and muscular I can get. I mean serious big. Now that would be a big change. I am a tiny woman, with wide shoulders, If I could get everything else "big", it could be rather frightening!

I will decide with the fig tree, when it decides to leave me, I will make my decision. Until then, I am hanging in there, maybe a little sideways like my tree, but I am there .