TURKISH FIG SESAME JAM

  TURKISH SESAME FIG JAM

My friend Keller blessed me with a huge bag of his fabulous backyard figs. So I have bee on a fig jammathon. Inspired by a Turkish friends tales of her grandmothers fig jam I devised this recipe.

Serve it on a cheese plate with feta or for something really decadent use it in a grilled cheese sandwich with manchego cheese. If you are making thumbprint cookies use a dab of this and you will have a hybrid Turkish Fig Newton.

Jam on!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 lbs fresh figs
• 2 cups sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/3-cup sesame seeds toasted

METHOD:

1. Wash and stem the figs removing their woody ends.  Depending on the size of your figs cut them accordingly to give you small bite sized pieces.
2. Layer cut figs and sugar in a preserving pan with lemon juice. Cover and let sit overnight or until sugar is dissolved.
3. Place over Medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45- 60 minutes, until fruit is translucent. Add lemon zest and sesame seeds and cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Ladle jam into hot sterilized jars. Seal and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

YIELD:

• 4 8-ounce jars

NOTES:

• Backyard figs often have a sticky sap to which dirt adheres so they may need to be rinsed twice.
• I have had variations in the cooking time depending on the variety and ripeness of the figs. Don’t be alarmed if you have to cook them longer, just keep a close eye on them.
• Toast the sesame seeds in a sauté pan on the stove. DO NOT take your eyes of them as they burn quickly.