Fig season is finally back!

Truth be told, I’m fairly new to the fig. I’ve had them here and there (mainly in cookies), but have never really eaten them when they were available. It just wasn’t something we ate when I was growing up.

Well, I’m all about branching out, so I figured I needed to give the fig a chance. Everyone tells me figs are sweet. I don’t know if it’s just my pallet or if I’m eating the wrong type of fig, but they don’t taste very sweet. To me, figs are earthy flavored and remind me of a good red wine. And what goes well with wine? That’s right, cheese.

We had some friends over for a game night and they brought blue cheese with fig paste. This was sooo good. Like incredibly good. I decided then and there, the next day I would run to the store and grab ingredients to make fig preserves. What would make it even better? Strawberries!

So I made strawberry fig preserves.

I wanted the sweet of the strawberries to mix with the earthy flavor of the figs. I only used honey as the sweetener—there is NO white sugar in this recipe. Now you can avoid the guilt while piling the stuff high on apples and whatnot.

I really wasn’t sure how this would come out. I had never made preserves without sugar. Guys, it came out great! It’s sweet and earthy (how I wanted it, and the honey isn’t too overpowering. There is lots of texture and it spreads like it should. I added some honey while it was cooking, and then I added a little more to bump the sweetness to where I wanted it to be. I suggest the same for you own batch. Maybe you’re one of those people who thinks that figs are sweet, and because of this, it’s sweeter to you than it is for me. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

This is  small batch, so it makes about 3 of those 4 oz jars or one and a half of the 8 oz jelly jars. It’s not too much and it’s not too little if you want to share.

I didn’t can these. I’m terrified of canning after taking a class on canning and the dangers of it. So because of this, everything I make like this is done in small batches and is eaten fresh. 

Honestly, I’m thinking about lathering the figgy goodness all over a chicken and roasting it. It might end up really tasty. I’ll save that for another post though.

Look at this beautiful fruit! 

Wash and cut up your fruit in nice, happy chunks. I quartered everything before I put them in a pot. 

Add everything to the pot and let it simmer on low until nice and squishy– because squishy is a proper cooking term in Apron Warrior land. (About 30-35 mins)

This glorious fruit combo will eventually look like this. 

And here’s a picture of me just for the fun of it. 

Mash your fruit with a potato masher and add more honey here if you like. At this point, you can put it in little jars and store in the refrigerator. The preserves should last about a week. 

Do you like figs? What are your favorite recipes for them? Leave a comment down below!

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