I had a great fig harvest this year, over 100 and they are still coming. I decided to try my hand at a marmalade. Everything I read about a marmalade involves precise temps for setting the mush as well as copious amounts of pectin. Lots of trial and error on the marmalade boards and lots of disappointing, runny, end results. Since I'm not one to ever follow recipes to the "T", I adapted several recipes into a pseudo jam and utilized some left over brewing adjuncts from seasonal beers. I'm going to be honest, it took a while to render that sucker down, a lot longer than I thought it would (stupid me for starting at 9pm when I had to work at 5am the next day), but the end result was spot on. I'm going to use this in a bacon, fig, marmaljam grilled cheese tomorrow, but here's the recipe in the interim.
Marmaljam(not quite marmalade, not quite jam):
12 or so figs (some were very overripe(can you say shrinkage?), some were perfect) cut into quarters
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raw honey (seriously, only because wanted to get rid of it, I scraped the jar)
1/4 oz sweet orange peel (leftover from brewing)This too can be potent and if you don't want the orange to co-star with the fig, taper it back to an 1/8oz.
1 cinnamon stick (left over from last year's christmas ale)
2 cups water
1 1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 lemon
Bring water to just about boiling in a large NON-STICK saucepan (I used my scan pan wok, I love this utensil and cook everything in it. pasta never boils over, no matter how high, burgers, rice, veggies, you name it)
Add the fig quarters and turn down to medium
Stir and stir until tender, giving a slight mash with a wooden spoon
Add the sugar and stir some more, gently, until dissolved, bring to a simmer
Add the sweet orange peel
Add the raw honey
let it render down until it darkens and add the cinnamon stick
(I took the cinnamon stick out several times and tasted, my stick was old, but it's very powerful stuff, don't overdo it and remember that it's going to be concentrated)
Simmer and stir, and stir and stir, until midnight, even if you have to get up at 4am
As it begins to render down and thicken, add the juice of the 1/2 lemon, pick out any seeds)
Once you get to a consistency that holds a bit on the spoon, let it go 15 more minutes (seriously, this was a total guess)
Remove from heat and let cool (it will thicken even more) and put it into jars or a bowl with a lid (you aren't making enough to bother canning)
Go to bed at 12:30am
Get up at 4:00am and rejoice at the consistency, put it in the fridge and hope it doesn't harden like candy and go to work
Crazy good on bread with some peanut butter, can't wait for the grilled cheese!
Cheers!!
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