Joey and I both have childhood memories associated with figs. Joey's Granny would give him a shotgun at the very mature age of 8 or so along with the instruction To Kill the Mockingbird(s) who were eating up her figs. God bless Jackson in the '90s ;) My memories don't conjure up such hilarity, but my grandmother, Phyllis Jean, and my great grandmother Twila Grace each had fig trees. Phee still makes fig preserves which are oh so good. She and I agree, what else are you supposed to do with figs? I especially have memories of Mamaw making her strawberry fig preserves, which was so delicious. I loved nothing more than spreading bright red preserves on toast with butter when I was a little girl....I still like it as a slightly less little girl.
Imagine our surprise when we discovered that one of our trees in the backyard was indeed....fig. So I called up my beautiful Phee and asked her to embellish her great figgy wisdom upon her first grandchild. She sent me the recipe for the strawfiggy preserves that Mamaw made. So Joey and I gullumphed to the store, bought some mason jars and set to picking and peeling figs. I did a little (a lot) research as to how one is supposed to sterilize the jars, which was honestly the hardest part of the whole thing for a recovering germaphobe (My darling coworkers have given me this label...I'm not sure I like it, but it might be true. I digress). I don't want to get botulism, and after all, we've had our share of severe bouts of food poisoning and other tales of woe in this two-person household, thanks very much. So I probably sterilized them more than necessary, but what can I say, I'm a dreamer...and I dream of not getting botulism.
Our toils made two and a half full jars of preserves! It was a fun little Saturday project and brought back fond memories of home and family. The figs are still comin', so I plan to give away my loot to lucky friends in the area. If you'd like to try your luck at fig preserves and need a recipe or tips on how to stay botulism-free, let me know and I'll be glad to share.
Yours in figs,
Imagine our surprise when we discovered that one of our trees in the backyard was indeed....fig. So I called up my beautiful Phee and asked her to embellish her great figgy wisdom upon her first grandchild. She sent me the recipe for the strawfiggy preserves that Mamaw made. So Joey and I gullumphed to the store, bought some mason jars and set to picking and peeling figs. I did a little (a lot) research as to how one is supposed to sterilize the jars, which was honestly the hardest part of the whole thing for a recovering germaphobe (My darling coworkers have given me this label...I'm not sure I like it, but it might be true. I digress). I don't want to get botulism, and after all, we've had our share of severe bouts of food poisoning and other tales of woe in this two-person household, thanks very much. So I probably sterilized them more than necessary, but what can I say, I'm a dreamer...and I dream of not getting botulism.
Our toils made two and a half full jars of preserves! It was a fun little Saturday project and brought back fond memories of home and family. The figs are still comin', so I plan to give away my loot to lucky friends in the area. If you'd like to try your luck at fig preserves and need a recipe or tips on how to stay botulism-free, let me know and I'll be glad to share.
Yours in figs,
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