Fig Jam

Love is buying your wife figs because she adores them.

B went to Costco and got excited because he saw lots of figs and bought an enormous box “for me to eat”. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I actually don’t particularly like eating fresh figs, but I bought a lot last year because I just loved taking pictures of them.

I do enjoy baking with figs a lot and have made lots of recipes, however I didn’t have time to bake since I was so busy on oncology. It was an extremely busy rotation, and since I was getting a letter of recommendation from my attendings, I wanted to do extra well.

I actually went through a lot of hoops, even trading rotations, since I wanted to work with a particular attending who I admired very much. Luckily there were many fellow residents who gladly gave me their oncology rotation, as it’s one of our more challenging rotations. Alas, my plan to get a letter of recommendation had a hiccup due to a last minute switch in schedule, but in the end it all worked out well (and I’m excited to mentor my intern with her first case report with our other attending, who was great).

So when life gives you figs, make figs jam.

I ate as much raw fresh figs as I could, and then turned the rest into a fig jam (adapted from Food and Wine) since I didn’t want them to spoil. Jam making is easy, keeps great, and would be an excellent hostess or housewarming gift for the fall and holidays.

We paired with with fancy bread from Costco and meats and cheeses from Trader Joe’s for a European style charcuterie board.

Fig Jam

Ingredients
1 pound figs (I used purple figs)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup water

Directions
Stem and cut the figs into quarters. In a saucepan over moderate heat, add the figs, sugar, lemon juice, and water and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for about 15 min, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is soft and the liquid is thickened.

Spoon the jam into a small jars. Let cool to room temperature. Store the jam in the refrigerator up to 3 months.

Serve on toasted bread with charcuterie.