Fig jam
Today’s a difficult day for me (what with a virus and Conflux coming and far too many things happening at once), so I’m giving you something cheering. Not particularly wholesome, but cheering. It also fits what’s turned out to be my theme of the week – all those scones and related deliciousness. I thought you’d like some jam to put on your scones, in fact.
The first recipe uses something that’s fallen out of favour. Back in my grandmother’s day, there was always a jar of ginger in syrup lying around that someone had given as a present. The jar was often a pretty Chinese pot. Every bit of the contents of the jars were used, and this fig jam is just one of the ways of using up the sugar syrup the ginger was preserved in as well as the ginger itself. In the Middle Ages, bitter oranges were preserved in a similar syrup and the orange and syrup were both likewise popular (and likewise expensive).
In Australia ginger has become much more readily accessible and much more tender. The variety in the elegant jars was a bit stringier than we’re used to now and the flavour wasn’t quite the same.
Fig jam
4 lb figs
1 pt water
4 oz. Ginger syrup
4 lb sugar
1 cup vinegar
Stew figs and vinegar in the water until soft. Chop ginger, measure pulp, add 1 lb to a pint (sugar) boil till thick.
food history, ginger, fig jam, recipes
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