Figs are an autumn staple, and if you have a fig tree you’ll probably end up wondering what to do with ripe figs, because you’ll have a lot of them! Making fig jam is a great way to use some of them up, and a slow cooker is your best friend to do it. I make fig jam in a crock pot, and it’s the easiest and lowest-effort way to make jam that you can eat now or freeze for later.
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Why use a crock pot instead of stovetop cooking.
We have fig trees that produce a lot of figs every year, and the first year that I made jam I did it on the stovetop. This ended up taking a long time because you have to stir the jam as it cooks or the sugar can burn, so it’s something that you have to monitor constantly.
And when you don’t stir it constantly, it will heat up in the center of the pan and explode when you do stir it again. I’m not kidding, be careful, because hot sugar is REALLY HOT. I got splattered enough that I decided to just do it in the slow cooker the next time, and that’s how we make jam all the time now.
How to make the jam.
Cut the figs up into little pieces and put them in the crock pot. You should wash them well, but you don’t need to peel them, the skin is thin and will cook right along with the insides.
Most jam recipes call for fruit and sugar in equal amounts, but I use about 1:3 sugar to figs, in, and no added liquids. For example, if I have 1 cup of figs, I’d use 1/3 cup of sugar. You can also substitute honey for some of the sugar, and add other spices in to give it some different flavors.
Some things that you can put in include:
- Cinnamon
- Cardamom
- Ginger
- Honey
- Sugar
- Orange Peel
- Cloves
- Lemon peel
- Spicy peppers for a little heat
- Vanilla
- Balsamic vinegar
You’re obviously not going to add all of those at the same time, but figs are pretty versatile and can be made sweet, spicy, or savory. Choose a few to try and see how you like it, then adjust the flavorings to your own taste.
I added the sugar and THAT’S ALL. And I even reduced the amount of sugar that I put in, because it didn’t need to be that sweet.
When you’re cooking sugar, you’re basically evaporating the water that’s in the sugar, and adding water to it first only slows down the cooking process so that you can control it better.
If you’re doing this in a crock pot adding a lot of liquid (meaning the “normal” amount in most recipes) will only slow down the reduction process, which is basically what you’re doing.
Adding less sugar and no liquids lets the flavor of the fruit really come out, and it speeds up the crock pot reduction process because there’s less liquid to evaporate.
So the recipe for this was basically 1 pound of fruit and 1/3 cup of sugar, but you can adjust that based on how sweet the fruit is and how tart you want the final product to be.
Cook the fig mixture.
So with the figs in there, and the sugar added, I mashed it all up really well using a potato masher. (affiliate link)
You want the fruit to be really smashed so that the cooking is sped up, but if you like jam that has chunks of fruit in it, leave some unmashed.
If you’re using fruit that has a lot of seeds like raspberries or blackberries, you might want to strain those like the reduction recipe above.
And if the fruit is harder, like apples, and can’t be mashed, you might want to cook them first to soften them up. If you don’t want to do that, you should just cut them into REALLY small pieces, add liquid to the mix, then mash them after a few hours when they’ve softened up.
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When everything is mashed up, turn the crock pot on high and leave the lid off.
Depending on how full the pot is, the cooking is going to take anywhere from 5 hours to 12, but you don’t really need to pay much attention to it.
As the fruit heats up, the temperature will go up faster because the liquid will evaporate, so after a few hours you should start watching the pot to see if it looks thick enough.
Stir it occasionally using a rubber spatula#ad to make sure that it’s thickening up evenly.
If you want to test it you can put a plate in the freezer to drop some of the hot jam on. When the jam cools off you’ll be able to see how thick it is, and if it’s still runnier than you want it, just let it cook longer.
You can use a candy thermometer#ad for this, but I just look at it and make a call about when it looks right.
When it’s done, store it in a container in the fridge for up to two months, but it probably won’t last that long because you’ll eat it faster than that. You can also freeze it for up to a year, but it should definitely be stored cold because this process isn’t a true canning process for putting preserves up in dry storage.
You can use these preserves for cake fillings or as a topping on cheesecakes, or for filling in turnovers or other types of pastries.
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