Fig or Strawberry Jam

A clever shortcut jam recipe that uses strawberry-flavored gelatin in place of traditional pectin. The gelatin does double duty: it sets the preserve to a soft, spoonable consistency, and the strawberry flavor turns plain mashed figs into a fruity hybrid that tastes more dimensional than straight fig jam. The end result reads like a fig-strawberry preserve, which is exactly the point.

The two-stage cook is the technique to follow. First, figs simmer with sugar and lemon juice for five to seven minutes to break down the fruit, then rest overnight to let the flavors marry and the natural pectin in fig skins draw out into the syrup. The next day, gelatin gets stirred in and the mixture comes back to a boil for three to four minutes to activate the gelatin and complete the set.

Lemon juice is optional but worth using. It brightens the heavy sweetness of figs and helps the gelatin set firm rather than runny.

Pro Tips

• Use ripe but not mushy figs. Overripe figs have already lost their pectin and the jam will not set firmly.
• Mash the figs roughly, leaving small chunks for texture. Pure smooth jam reads more sauce than preserve.
• Sterilize jars in boiling water for ten minutes before filling for safe shelf storage. Refrigerate within a month if not properly canned.
• Skim foam off the top during the second boil for a clearer, prettier finished jam.

Variations

• Use raspberry or blackberry gelatin in place of strawberry for different berry-fig combinations.
• Substitute mashed strawberries for figs (with strawberry gelatin) for a pure strawberry jam.
• Add a knob of fresh ginger or a cinnamon stick during the first boil for a warm-spiced fig jam.