Spicy Fig Honey Jam

I love spicy jams and jellies with cheese and I also have been cooking with these spicy jams lately. I have a pepper blast berry jelly that is really quite hot and it's great with roast meats. The PC Bacon Marmalade is is thing of beauty and I feel sorry for all of you Americans who can't get your greasy paws on this stuff but it's a fair exchange for rotel, I guess. The high sugar content in jam means it really caramelizes nicely and it gives a nice, sticky, sweet glaze to a roast pork tenderloin or some chicken thighs. I throw in some chicken stock with some of the jam and make a delicious pan sauce and we are good to go.

The magical asian produce store had a huge stack of fresh figs that were too cheap to pass up on so the only choice I had was to make a small batch of fig jam. Since I already know that I am only going to use it for dishes like this pork tenderloin with fig jam or with cheese, I decided to just throw some hot sauce right into the jam as it cooked and it worked really well. This recipe for fig jam made with honey has been sitting on the back burner for a while so I used that but took their suggestion and cut down on the honey so it wouldn't be the overpowering flavour. I am not sure I would use siracha if I were making a big batch of jam but it worked just fine for this. The Kid said to warn you that it is not his favourite jam to eat on toast or with peanut butter and I told him that everyone would already know that since it has hot sauce in it but he insisted so consider yourself forewarned.

A piece of toasty bread, some spicy fig jam, arugula and melty brie make life worth living.








Spicy Fig Honey Jam
adapted from fig preserves from chef in you.com

1 lb fresh figs
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
the zest of one lemon, grated on a rasp
1 tbls grated fresh ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup sugar
squirt siracha to taste

Wash your figs, cut the stems off and cut each into four. Add all of the ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat and heat until the sugar is totally melted. This is the time to taste it and see if you want to add a tiny bit more hot sauce. I like my fig jam to have a nice bite but it's up to you.

 Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. I keep an eye on it, stirring often and keep cooking it until it reaches 220F on my handy, dandy instant read thermometer. I hate giving a time because it's never really the same time from one batch to the next. It depends on the weather, the pot you use, your fruit, the position of the moon and the colour of your socks. Safest bet is to just keep stirring and checking the temperature (you can also use a candy thermometer that mounts on to the side of the pot)
Take it off the heat and then ladle into a clean, glass jar and after it cools down, store it in the fridge.