For late summer Fig Season let’s make this freezer friendly Refrigerator Homemade Fig Jam recipe! It’s perfect for spreading on breakfast toasts or morning scones. This recipe is such a delight to make and eat!
My friend Dessa, owns a farmstand, From Her Farm, and grew the most delightful fresh figs from her fig tree this season. Her fruit trees have been a delight to see blossom and grow all year. I knew we needed to make an easy fig jam recipe to use a ton of figs up at their peak deliciousness. If this is your first time making freezer jam recipes, they’re very simple to make and do not require the usual processing associated with traditional canning of fruit preserves. Scroll down for the ingredient list and steps to make this fabulous homemade jam.
Ingredients for the Freezer Friendly Refrigerator Homemade Fig Jam Recipe
The best thing about this fresh fig jam is that we can make it for the refrigerator and enjoy all week or freeze jars of fig jam for up to six months! Here is what we will need to make, in my opinion, the best fig jam yet:
- Fresh Ripe Figs: You can use of a mix of black mission figs or green figs. We’ll need about two pounds of fresh figs here. I love getting our figs from local farm stands or the farmers market, but you can also find figs at your local grocery store.
Figs have a delicious texture and can be so juicy when biting into a very ripe fresh fig. I love the contrasting elements of fresh figs on top of my morning oats. When I spy figs in season at our local farm stands, I buy them weekly all season long. They are such a treat! This jam gives us the change to preserve their sweet and earthy flavors to enjoy for winter.
Flavor Components for Our Fig Jam
- Maple Sugar: I am always trying to be thoughtful about the amount of cups of sugar in our jam recipes. If I don’t absolutely need to use granulated sugar, I won’t. Here, we’re using maple sugar which offers a mellow sweetness with a smaller amount of sugar and light caramel color to the jam. I think it’s the best sugar for this recipe. Maple sugar can be a bit pricey (sharing the one I get here) but you can swap for about 1/3 cup maple syrup. Start with 1/3 cup maple syrup and build to your desired level of sweetness. You could also use brown sugar, but trust me on the maple sugar. It’s divine.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: This helps to preserve our refrigerator jam without the use of added pectin as it has natural pectin which will help to thicken this great recipe. The jam will thicken beautifully. If you don’t have fresh lemons on hand, a good quality bottled lemon juice is a good substitute. If using fresh lemons, feel free to add in a teaspoon of the lemon zest.
- Cinnamon and Vanilla Extract: These make a great addition to this fig preserves recipe offering a little depth of flavor to this list of simple ingredients.
Preparing and Storing this Refrigerator Homemade Fig Jam
With just 30 mins cook time, this simple fig jam recipe will be ready to enjoy or save for later. Here’s how we make it:
First, remove the fig stems and dice the sweet fruit into small, 1/4 inch pieces and placing them in a large bowl. Next, place figs in a stainless steel saucepan or non-reactive saucepan. To the cups of figs stir lemon juice, the maple sugar, and ground cinnamon to combine. Next, place the heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat and cook the fresh fruit down, stirring regularly, for about 15 to 20 minutes until the figs have broken down and thicken to a deep reddish color.
Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Finally, allow mixture to cool slightly before funneling the jam into the half-pint sterilized jars. Screw on the airtight lids, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace in each. Wipe rims, if needed, apply airtight lids and place in the refrigerator to store for up to a month.
If you are not a fan of chunky jam, you can definitely take a potato masher to mash the cooked fruit a bit more or pour fig mixture into the bowl of a food processor fitting with the chopping blade and process until well blended. For best results, store the refrigerator fig jam in an airtight container for up to a month.
More Breakfast Bites to Love
It’s no surprise we’re big fans of breakfast here. For instance, I love slow starts to the morning and relish them when we can have them. Here are a few more deliciously seasonal breakfast recipes to add to your everyday:
- Breakfast breads that can be prepped in one bowl like this Pumpkin Bread or quintessential Banana Bread.
- This blueberry compote can be made in 15 minutes. Plus, you can use either fresh or frozen berries.
- Blood Orange and Currant Scones are great for weekend breakfast or brunch.
Multiple Uses for Jars of Fig Jam
This easy recipe for fig jam need not be reserved solely for the obvious uses of spreading on toast or breakfast scones. Here are a few different ways to enjoy this delicious seasonal fig preserve:
- Portion out a small amount of fig jam to serve as part of a cheese board or cheese platter for your next party.
- Spread a little on top of goat cheese, slices of brie, or cream cheese for an afternoon tartine or snack.
- Bake a batch of homemade fig newtons using your homemade fig jam!
- Create a simple glaze of fig jam to glaze a brown turkey during the roast.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful fig jam to relish fig season. If you make it, please let me know how it goes! You can share in the comments below or on social media! Tag me on Instagram or on my Facebook page.
Cheers to the next nourishing meal. 🧡
Freezer Friendly Refrigerator Homemade Fig Jam Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds figs a mix of purple and green
- 1 cup maple sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Small sprig of fresh rosemary optional here but it's a lovely addition
Instructions
- Remove the fig stems and dice the fresh figs into small, 1/4 inch pieces.
- Add the diced figs to a large, nonreactive saucepan or pot. Add the maple sugar, lemon juice, rosemary sprig, and ground cinnamon and stir to combine.
- Place the pot over medium high heat and cook the fruit down, stirring regularly, for about 15 to 20 minutes until the figs have broken down and thicken to a deep reddish color.
- Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Remove rosemary sprig and discard.
- Funnel the jam into the half-pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace in each. Wipe rims, if needed, apply airtight lids and place in the refrigerator to store for up to a month or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Chelsea says
Woo, this looks so good! I always loving buying figs in the Fall but it’s so hard for my small family to eat them up before they go bad. Bookmarking this recipe for then — love fig jam on my pizza! Thank you!
Frances Kellar says
oooooo fig jam on pizza is a combo I have yet to try! Thank you for that, Chelsea! This jam has been a great way to save the season when it comes to figs! Cheers.
Megan says
My in-laws have a fig tree and they usually give me a bunch every year so I’m definitely making this! Do you think fresh thyme would taste good in it?
Frances Kellar says
I love that your in-laws have a fig tree, Megan! Fresh thyme can absolutely pair nicely with the figs if you want to switch out the rosemary for it. I love that combo too!