Fig Jam.....but please don't call me "Fig Jam"

Yes, I know. I know. It's an acronym for "F*** I'm good. Just ask me" 
So I hesitated, for weeks, truly, before I posted this blog, because I don't think I'm good.....I just enjoy making and eating fig jam.
And  we have 10 fig trees here on the farm (yes, we love figs).

One of our fig trees, with figs in various stages of ripeness.

Two varieties of figs....on their trees ready to be picked.  I have to get them before the birds do!

There is no way that all the crop can be eaten...either as is, straight from the tree,  or roasted with sugar and then enjoyed with yoghurt, or ice cream.

One picking, and ready for jam OR drying OR chutney.

So what to do?
I dry some.   Great as snacks.

These have been halved, and dried...takes about 24 hours. Ready to be packed away.

Or I halve fresh figs & then grill them, with sugar , to make a delicious dessert...eaten with cream or ice cream or yoghurt. Whatever takes your fancy.

I have made fig chutney.  Lovely.

Fig chutney coming up! Ingredients assembled.

And bottles and bottles and bottles of fig jam.
(Is your mouth watering?   Maybe you don't like figs......???)

During the season, which is now, ripe figs are picked practically every day.

For jam, all I do is weigh them, then chop them up, and place in a saucepan.
I add about 75% of their weight in sugar...equal parts figs and sugar is too sweet for us.

Figs cut, sugar added.

Then cook.
I don't add water or any sort of liquid to the pot. The figs make their own juice with the sugar.

Cooking away.       Ready to start testing to see if it's done.

Easy.
Or as Jamie Oliver would say, "easy peasy"

We now have enough bottles of fig jam to keep us happy until this time next year when the figs crop again.

All done and dusted. Another few bottles of fig jam.

And don't you love the way home-made jams and chutneys are in such a variety of bottles and jars?  Can you pick the ex-Vegemite jars from the bottles in the photo?    Yes, the yellow lids are a give-a-way aren't they?.     Waste not, want not, as I was told as a child.

And that's just one session of jam making.....I have many many bottles stored in the wine cellar for use over the next 12 months.

But please DON'T call me Fig Jam will you?