The other morning, on my way to the subway, I passed the fruit and vegetable seller. Winter is hard on these folks.  Not only do they have to manage the cold of New York City streets, but the selection of fruits gets a little tired.  Come spring, they start having early cherries and (unripe) apricots.  They are also some of the first to get figs.  And this week they had figs. I bought one box to take to work and then I called Scott to ask him to get some figs for us at home.  Prompt action ensued from my partner in food.

An interesting fact about figs is that the insides are actually the flower.  Usually, fruit results from a visible flower on a tree or a vine being pollinated. We can watch that happen when we see bees buzzing around flowering plants.  It is what many of us learned about stamens and pistils in science class.  Fig flowers, on the other hand, are hidden inside the fruit.  They are pollinated by a special kind of wasp that enters into the fruit, spreads pollen while laying its eggs, and then dies. Inside the fig fruit! I know that I may be eating dead wasps while eating a fig.  I view it as extra protein.  Actually, the figs we get in the market probably don’t have wasps in them.  By some miracle of science, the figs we eat are produced without producing seeds (kind of like navel oranges, I guess.)  Here’s a video that explains all about wasps and figs. But I kind of like thinking about all the different ways that have arisen in nature for plants and animals to reproduce and how different species actually help each other.

In any event, Saturday morning rolled around and the figs were waiting for me in the fridge.  I enjoyed a couple of them on toast with ricotta and honey.  The rest got chopped up and stewed into jam with vanilla and whiskey.  Here’s the recipe. It is a riff on this recipe and several others as I had to adjust the sugar to fruit ratio given the amount of figs I had.

1/4 cup whiskey, rye or bourbon

1 vanilla bean, opened, with seeds scraped out — we use both the pod and the beans in this recipe.

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 pounds figs, cut into small pieces

Stir all ingredients together in a heavy bottomed pot

Let macerate for 30 minutes or so,  while you prep the canning jars

Wash canning jars and put in a large pot. Cover the jars with water and bring to the water to a boil. Add the lids to the pot.

Once the jars are on the way to being sterilized, put the heat on underneath the figs.  Bring to a low boil, stirring occasionally.  Cook for about 30 minutes. Mash the figs slightly with a potato masher about 20 minutes in.  The jam is ready when it looks “jammy.” It will be slightly glossy and you can see that the fruit syrup is gelling.

Remove the jars from the water, making sure to drain out all the water.  Place on a towel on the counter.  Ladle the jam into the jars to about 1/2 inch from the top.  Wipe the lip of the jar with a clean, damp cloth.  Jam residue between the jar and the lid will prevent a seal from forming.  Place the lid on the jar and then the ring.  Leave the jars to cool on the counter. They are sealed when the center is depressed.  You can sometimes hear a ping when the seal is made.

Once the jars are cool, you can check for a seal by pressing on the center of the lid. If it didn’t seal, the best solution is to put the jar in the fridge and enjoy it with your cheese course at dinner that night, on your toast the next morning, in your yogurt, or on a spoon.