Brandied Figs
Fresh figs are glorious but they keep poorly and are available for only a very short time. So, what do you do with the bumper crop harvested from your trees before they rot? The most common preservation approach is through drying. But others exist. Here we share a wonderful recipe adapted from Jan Berry's 1997 The Art of Preserving (ISBN 978-0898158953) in which fresh figs are preserved in a sugar and brandy syrup. They can then be eaten by themselves or used as a topping for other deserts. Note that the following recipe will likely make far more syrup than needed: in our case we only used 1 cup of syrup (and one cup of brandy) to cover and preserve our figs. Please don’t throw out the leftover syrup! By itself it also has an amazing flavor profile through not only the brown sugar, lime, and spices, but also from the fig flavor that is infused into the sauce during poaching. What we did was to put the hot sugar syrup into clean canning jars and seal. We’ll use this syrup in the future as a versatile dessert topping. 4½ cups packed brown sugar Place brown sugar, water, cloves, cinnamon, and lime slices into a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Add in the whole figs and gently poach for 10 minutes. Remove the figs with a slotted spoon. Layer into a sterilized quart jar with the lime and ginger slices and cinnamon sticks. Continue cooking the remaining syrup until it has reduced by half, at least 15 minutes. Pour the reduced syrup over the packed figs. Now pour off the syrup into a measuring cup. Pour off half of the syrup, and replace with an equal amount of brandy. Pour the brandy-syrup mixture over the figs and seal the jar. Let rest in a cool, dark place for at least four weeks. Refrigerate after opening. Archive |
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