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Figs are one of my all-time favorite fruits! But unfortunately, living in New England where figs are not locally grown, it is often hard to find fresh figs. And when we do find them, they are either very expensive or – being a highly perishable fruit – not of the greatest quality.
So I was extremely excited to walk into my local market last week – where I spotted a large display of fresh figs on sale for a great price. (If you see them too…buy some!) I grabbed a few pints and immediately started plotting to make this Small Batch Fig Jam recipe.
This Small Batch Fig Jam recipe makes a 1-cup jar of jam – perfect for a special treat. The jam is sweet but not too sweet, and the addition of lemon and thyme complements the flavors of the fig in a very delicious way!
This gorgeous fig jam is absolutely fantastic served on crostini with a sprinkle of bleu cheese (see note in our recipe below), spread on buttered toast or a bagel, spooned into some hot oatmeal, or used to make our Prosciutto and Fig Pizza with Arugula or these Prosciutto Rolls.
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Small Batch Fig Jam
Adapted from Cooking Light via MyRecipes.com
Ingredients
- 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 pound ripe fresh Black Mission Figs, stemmed and quartered
Instructions
- For a very thick jam (as shown) simmer for the full 50 minutes. For a looser jam, simmer only for 40 minutes.
- Using a vegetable peeler, remove strips of rind from lemon, being careful not to include the white pith as you peel the strips.
- Place lemon rind strips and all other ingredients into a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir to combine.
- Bring contents in the saucepan to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 40-50 minutes (*see note above) or until mixture thickens, continuing to stir frequently so the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Discard thyme stems and lemon peel. Pulse jam with an immersion blender to chop up the fig skins if desired.
- Pour into an 8-ounce jelly jar. Keep refrigerated for up to one month.
- This jam may also be canned in sterilized jars using the water bath method.
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Notes
To make the crostini we show in our photos above, simply slice a baguette into diagonal slices. Toast until golden brown, then (optional) rub each slice with a clove of garlic that has been cut in half. Spread our Small Batch Fig Jam onto each slice, then top with crumbled bleu cheese.
Prosciutto and Fig Pizza with Arugula
Grape Nuts Pudding with Fig Sauce
I have a fig tree and had more figs than I could give away! Your jam was easy, delicious and made a perfect gift for friends. I used a small orange instead of a lemon and it worked out great. Makes a great spread on grilled cheese sandwiches.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Patti – I’m jealous of your fig tree! 🙂
I’ve been making this recipe for several years. I have a fig tree so I get pounds of figs to convert to jam. I seal the jars using my Instant Pot. Sometimes I make it smooth and sometimes I leave it chunky. Sometimes I make it thin for a sauce, sometimes I make it nice and thick. This one recipe gives me options.
So glad you are enjoying the recipe!
I have to fight the squirrels and birds for my figs every morning but, this came out so good! I love the lemon and thyme accent it almost tastes like a lemon bar with a twist. Yum. I used about half of the sugar allotted for and it was sweet enough for me and I also added a little water in while it was simmering. I wish I could freeze some of this!!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Abby – We haven’t tried freezing it ourselves, but if you do, please let us know how it comes out!
I have so many frozen figs. Can I use them for this recipe? Any adjustments needed? Or do you have other recipes you can recommend to use up my frozen fig stash? Thanks!
Hi Amy – We’ve only made the jam as written, but I think it would work with frozen as long as you didn’t add anything to the figs when you froze them.
I don’t have any recipes specific to frozen figs, but we do have some other fig recipes – just search “figs” in the search bar and a few recipes will come up for you to take a look at. Hope that helps!
I often use frozen figs to make this recipe. I freeze them whole when I pick them and when I get several pounds of figs make the jam.
Thanks Jenn!
Just making this recipe and also thought it had too much sugar so used 2 tsps only and added a bit of stevia. Also I’m leaving the lemon rind in cut in smaller pieces. I am also using 2 tsp of Poire Williams. There doesn’t seem to be enough moisture so I added a little water. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi Jennifer – Hard to say – you’ve made a lot of changes to the recipe…I can only really speak to the recipe as written and haven’t tested it with all of the changes and substitutions are you trying. Sorry I can’t be more help.
I actually would give this 4.5 stars–the 1/2 deficit because it was still a little too sweet for me, even though I cut the sugar by 1/4 cup. The blend of lemon and thyme was perfect! Quite tasty! Served it over brie with bruschetta slices–it was a hit at happy hour! Not a fig fan (my husband is the one) and first timer with fig recipes–will definitely make it again! Thank you, Martha!
Thanks for your feedback Caryn.
Delicious! Thanks for this wonderful recipe! I didn’t have fresh thyme and thus used dry.
Thanks Akshaya!
I’m in the middle of making your jam right now. You don’t say to cover the pot while simmering for 40-50 min., so I did not. Is that correct?
Hi Mary – That’s correct – no need to cover the pot as it simmers.
delicious wih sage instead of thyme / lemon
Thanks for the suggestion!
The recipe is super simple! It’s even great if you exclude the lemon peals and thyme (I couldn’t taste much of a difference, so I don’t use them) Thanks so much for sharing. I, like Vince, have way too many fresh figs on my tree and they are just too sweet to be eating every day. I am curious if anyone has canned the jam, I’m new to the world of canning, and have only canned a few things. I am wondering what the processing time would be and if I need to add anything to bring the acidity up or if it’s already the right Ph to can. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
We are by no means canning experts. We always refer readers to the Ball canning site for reference. https://www.freshpreserving.com/
Canning is an exact science so in all cases, refer to a site that can offer sound canning advice.