Pear and Fig Jam - a Pinedo recipe

My fig tree is producing this year -- not the huge amounts I read about for people with mature fig trees, because mine has been on my property for only about 6 years.  But it is making enough to make me happy.  I love fresh figs!  The variety I have is Violet de Bordeaux, which is a semi-dwarf, and its figs are purple.  They are also so sweet and flavorful, they are like eating candy.

This morning I picked all the ripe fruits I could reach.  That gave me about 3 pounds of fruit, with more on the way.  Breakfast was greatly enhanced by consuming fresh figs!

I decided to check out my translation of Encarnacion Pinedo's book, The Spanish Cook, to see if there were any fig recipes I wanted to use.  I chose her Pear and Fig Jam on page 162.

My Redaction

1 pound granulated sugar

2 cups water

2 pounds Bartlett pears; peeled, cored, and chopped into small pieces

1 pound fresh figs; stemmed and chopped

I forgot to peel the pear for the picture.  That was done afterwards.

Mmmmmm!

Mix the sugar and water well, and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down and simmer for one minute.

Add the pears, bring to a boil, the reduce the heat and allow them to simmer for two hours.

Add the chopped figs.  Cook until the jam thickens or the temperature reaches 210 degrees F.

Put into canning jars, cool, then refrigerate.  Makes 3 to 4 cups.

My Notes

Preparing the fruit was easy and straightforward.

Chopped pears

Pears and syrup

Brought to a boil, then simmered

After two hours of simmering

I was surprised that the pears hadn't disintegrated with all that cooking.  They appeared candied, and they tasted that way, too, but they were very soft.

The recipe did not specify to peel the figs, so I chopped them and hoped for the best.

Chopped figs

Jams are usually cooked until they reach 220 degrees F.  I tried to get this mixture to that temperature, but it seemed to be thickening too much without achieving it.  I was worried I was making the jam too hard.  At best, I got it to 215 degrees.

What I did was keep it cooking over a low heat (about 3 out of a scale of 10), stirring and checking the temperature every five to ten minutes.  Sometimes I took out a spoonful and let it cool to check for thickness.  Stirring seemed a good idea; only a little of the jam stuck to the bottom of the pan, and that was at the very end of the cooking.

The Verdict

After the jam chilled overnight, my guest taster and I tried it.

It was very firm, as you can see on the spoon.  It was a little spreadable but not as soft as I normally think of with jam.  I don't think it was too firm, but could have been cooked less.

The color was a rich burgundy; very pretty.

The flavor was amazing:  both the pear and fig came through.  The seeds added a nice crunch.  It was sweet but not too sweet.  I think I got the sugar content just right.

The pear pieces were still mostly as pieces -- I was right, they were candied and stood out as slightly more chewy than the rest of the jam.  I liked it, even though I wasn't sure at first.  My guest taster agreed that the chewy pear was surprising but not bad.

Success!

I had a new guest taster, SD, try it without being told what it was or what was in it.  She felt it was too sweet -- so if you think it might be for you, I would reduce the sugar by up to half, but use the same amount of water.  SD also thought the texture was interesting -- the firm bits caught her attention.  I think she was surprised to find out that it was from pears and that they were candied.

What my usual guest taster and I both really enjoyed was the bright flavor of the fruit, and that it wasn't overwhelmed with the sugar.  When I read the recipe, I thought spices would be a good addition, but now I believe they would not let the fruit flavor shine through.  If I was making a big batch of this for canning, I might add some candied ginger or a splash of lemon or lime juice to some of the jars.

SD agreed with this -- she felt the mixture would be improved with some acidity, like a little apple cider vinegar, and with some spices like pepper to make it more savory.  I liked her suggestion, and wondered if adding nuts, too, to make it more like a chutney.

She had imagined how she would use this spread and thought it would pair nicely with pork or chicken, or with cream cheese or brie on crackers.

I have only a little experience cooking jams the "usual" way, that is by cooking the fruit and adding sugar to it.  I have even less experience starting with a syrup and cooking the fruit in it.  I believe that when starting with syrup, achieving a lower temperature is better than the standard 220 degrees.  

I looked up more advice in the internet.  Several websites suggest cooking until the mixture thickens slightly.  Others say to watch for when the mixture changes from a foamy, roiling boil to a more sedate bubbling without changing the heat under it.  There were times when I was watching the cooking that I thought it was done -- and that was around 210 degrees.