With our new house in France came two gigantic fig trees. One with medium-sized honey sweet green figs, and the other with dark purple chonky figs. While getting through a fair amount for breakfast, the trees can be so abundant there is just no keeping up. So I freeze most of the figs for later use.
I use the chonkers for making jam, with cardamom and star anise, but I find the green figs too sweet to turn into jam as jamming generally involves adding sugar. More on that later.
Balsamic vinegar pickled figs and herbs
So I was looking for more savory things to do with my sweet friends, like a chutney perhaps, when Andrea Reyes shared this recipe for balsamic vinegar pickled figs with herbs with me. It’s from Sabors del Mundo Arabe, a 2000 cookbook by Lucrecia Infante Vargas and Lourdes Hernandez Fuentes.
I haven’t looked back since. While I am still looking for that chutney, this recipe is so quick and easy and the results are delicious. I think they’re ideally served as part of a cheese board with some good assertive cheeses in the mix. I also like giving jars away as gifts to visitors or people back home.
A note on freezing figs
As mentioned I freeze my figs, and if you too are ‘suffering’ under a glut of figs every late summer, I have some notes. For this recipe you need whole figs, so it’s best to give them a quick rinse and then freeze them whole. Learn from my mistakes and freeze them per 500 gram or 1 kilo bags. It’ll make it easier to know what the hell you’re working with.
For jams, you can clean the figs, remove the stems and then roughly (or finely) chop them and add the necessary sugar for jam-making right in the freezer bag with them, as this will macerate the figs and get them all ready to go for jamming. I like to use jamming sugar (or whatever it’s called in English, with the pectin already in) for a ratio of 1 parts sugar to 2 parts fruit. This is usually a bit more expensive (than 1 on 1 jamming sugar), but fruit is already sweet so…
Balsamic vinegar pickled figs with herbs
Equipment
- 4 empty sterilised jam jars OR
- 3 sterilised 3/4 liter jars
- Large pot
- Large pot that will hold the 4 jam jars
Ingredients
- 3/4 c sugar
- 1 c water
- 3 allspice berries or 1/4 t ground allspice
- 2 T fresh thyme leaves
- 1 t fresh rosemary leaves chopped
- 2 juniper berries
- 2+4 bay leaves dried or fresh
- 2+4 strips orange peel preferably sun dried, around 2x5 cm
- 1 kilo firm and ripe figs rinsed
- 3/5 c - 110 ml balsamic vinegar
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 4 sprigs rosemary
Instructions
To sterilise your jars
- I have a sterilisation function on my dishwasher, so if it's empty I use that with no added washing up liquid. Alternatively you can wash your jars and lids and then boil them for 10 minutes in a water bath on a rolling boil or for 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 175°C - 350°F. I like using the water bath because you're going to need it later anyway, so you're water'll already be ready to go when you're ready to can.
Balsamic vinegar pickled figs with herbs
- Bring a large pot of water, that will hold 4 jam jars or 3 3/4 liter jars, to a rolling boil while you go through the remainder of the recipe.
- Mix 3/4 c sugar with 1 c water in a large steel pan. Bring to a boil over high heat until sugar dissolves , reduce heat and cook until light syrup forms , 5 to 7 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare a 24 cm square of cheese cloth and place 3 allspice berries, 2 T of thyme and 1 t chopped rosemary leaves, 2 juniper berries, 2 bay leaves and 2 of the strips of orange peel in the center. Tie the ends of this spice bag and dip it in the syrup. Cook 20 minutes over low heat.
- Add the cleaned figs and continue cooking on low for a further 15 minutes, gently moving the figs around with a wooden spoon from time to time.
- Remove the spice bag.
- Place the figs in 4 previously sterilised jam jars and divide 3/8 c- 110 ml balsamic vinegar across the jars equally. Now cover the fruit and vinegar with the syrup , saving at least one centimeter from the mouth of the jars.
- Dip a sprig of thyme, a sprig of rosemary, a bay leaf and a strip of orange peel in each jar.
- Cover the jars and cook 20 minutes in the water bath on a rolling boil. Remove and let cool 12 hours or overnight.
- The figs will keep for up to a year. Once opened, they should be kept refrigerated and it is best to finish them within a week.
