Jalapeno and Fig Jam
Our fig trees are pushing out a lot of beautiful ripe figs and the pepper plants are yeilding quite a bit as well. We love hot foods, savory foods, sweet foods and really love mixing all of that up!
Below is one of our favorite recipes for this time of year. It blends these great ingredients straight from the garden and keeps in the fridge for months.
It's especially great for topping cheese and crackers for that extra bite!
The Figs
Pick figs at the peak of ripeness, or even just over. The more ripe, the sweeter and the more sugar content. We use about 10 or 12 depending on size.
The Peppers
Choose your peppers depending on the heat level you want. This recipe heats up fast, so we typically use just one hot pepper (jalapeno or cayenne) but also add a couple sweet peppers. In this case we used shishito peppers - the red ones in the photo.
The Sweet
We add about a quarter cup of red wine (in these case locally sourced from Dover Vineyards - they sell at our NoDa Farmers Market and are located just one county away). We also use 3 table spoons of local honey from Midwood Hill Apiary - also from the market.
Finally we add a half cup of sugar.
Get to Cookin'
Rough chop the peppers and figs. Drop in a small pot set on low. Pour in the red wine and let simmer for a 3 or 4 minutes. When the figs start to break down a bit, add the honey and sugar.
Let cook down, on simmer or as low as your cooktop will go, for 10 minutes or until the sauce goes from being fairly liquid to firming up. Blend in a small food processor or blender. Put in a small jar, allow to cool a bit and place in the fridge!