Fig Jam

FIG JAM

Course: Snack
Cuisine: Jam
Keyword: boxcarr creamery, durham, fig, jam, north carolina, ocracoke figs, sherry, sorghum

Equipment

  • measuring cup
  • Sturdy bottom pot, stainless 2 qt
  • Vitamix
  • OR immersion blender

Ingredients

  • 1 lb figs This is for fresh or frozen figs only
  • 12 oz water if using dry figs, add more water in 2 oz increments
  • 3 oz sorghum
  • 3 oz sherry vinegar

Instructions

  • Add all ingredients to a small pot and bring to a boil.
  • When the ingredients simmer for about five minutes, puree with an immersion blender or a Vitamix.
  • Put in nonreactive container. Let chill and refridgerate.  Should last for two weeks, but if it does, you are doing something wrong!

Notes

When I lived in Durham back in the 1990s, I would notice a white-haired, friendly lady with a brown paper bag entering the kitchen entrance of the restaurants during the day(July through August).  Muriel the fig lady would come through with her bag full of beauties for a hot minute in the summer.
Word on the street is that she had Okracoke figs. https://www.carolinacountry.com/carolina-stories/departments/feature-story/ocracoke-hearts-figs  During this time I remember reading about them in a Saveur magazine article. 
Fast forward a few years and we have our own fig lady.  She shows up with pretty much any amount we want, from her home in the Rockwood neighborhood in Durham.  I like to make a jam and use it as a sauce with a prosciutto-wrapped fig stuffed with any Boxcarr cheese I can get my hands on, although rocket robiola does a damn fine job, specifically.

Shop local

Doesn't matter where you live
Shopping local matters

I’ve lived in Alaska and North Carolina and wanted to share some resources with you!

  • Southern Cooking by Bill Neal
  • Gift of Southern Cooking by Edna Lewis
  • Magnolia Grill Cookbook by Ben and Karen Barker
  • Poole’s Diner by Ashely Christensen
  • Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard