A great recipe for Fig Pepper Jelly made with fresh figs, jalapeno peppers, and warm honey for a perfect blend of sweet heat. This is not your regular fig jam. It can be a topping for soft cheese to serve with crackers, a glaze for meats, a dip for fresh fruits, or warmed up and poured over ice cream.
Figs are in season in southeast Arkansas in July, and that's the time for eating, jelly-making, and baking with fresh figs. This summer-time fruit is my favorite, and I am happiest eating it from my very own tree.
You can also freeze this fresh fruit to prepare later. First, rinse or soak them with a little baking soda, then c them to dry by spreading them on a towel before freezing them in a plastic zip-top bag. They will keep up to a year in the freezer.
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Introducing The Fig Tree
If you haven't met her, she's a classic southern fruit bearer known for her large, bright green leaves and round fruit. Her produce is sweet when fully ripened with edible skin. Her leaves fill the tree in early spring, adding much shade to the yard in summer.
In autumn, she sheds her leaves, leaving skeleton branches for winter that extend from the bottom to the top of her trunk. She needs much room to grow to accommodate her spreading boughs as she ages.
This makes for a great climbing tree in her mature state. Because of her popularity in southern yards, I am not alone in remembering days spent playing in her sturdy limbs. I look forward to seeing my grandchildren do the same in our young fig tree, all grown up one day.
For more fig facts, go to the Fig Cake post and other time-honored traditions of fig recipes posted here on the blog, like 7 Fig Recipes: Not Just For Fig Season.
Ingredients For Fig Pepper Jelly
I must give thanks to my cousin, Liz, for this hot pepper jelly recipe idea. Our visits are always fun and include conversations about food. She can cook like her Mama and our Grandma George and is always up on the best and most popular Cajun dishes. She's also a wealth of information on where to find those special ingredients.
The ingredients for this recipe aren't too hard to find, but they make a stunning accompaniment to one another.
- figs - fresh or frozen (that have been defrosted) and mashed with a potato masher
- spicy jalapenos - no bell peppers used here like in most pepper jelly recipes, only whole jalapeno peppers for medium high heat chopped until fine in the food processor with seeds and veins included, no stems.
- white vinegar - instead of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to act as an acid working with the pectin in sure-jell to thicken the jam
- sugar - this sweetener works with the pectin and acid, or vinegar, to set the jelly
- honey - the taste of honey gives the pepper jelly sweet toasty undertones adding another level of taste
- butter - to keep jelly from foaming as it cooks
- sure-jell - a powdered form of lower-ester pectin made with apple peels and citrus fruit to thicken the jelly, which needs less acid and sugar than other pectins
Instructions For Pepper Jelly
Sterilize five half-pint jars in the dishwasher or in a pot of boiling water on the stove.
Rough chop peppers and process in a chopper or food processor until they are diced fine. Now, you may use more or less jalapeno to adjust the heat level. This is legal!
Add figs, peppers, vinegar, sugar, honey, and butter to a heavy saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil with frequent stirring, it will become a rich caramel color. Then add Sur Jell.
Boil and stir for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and ladle into the hot, sterilized half pints.
NOTE: Use a canning jar funnel that stays secure to easily fill the jar.
Top jar openings with round seals and screw on lids and process in boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove jars from the water onto a clean towel covering the countertop and let cool.
Top Tip
Wrap the sterilized jar with a towel and hold the towel tightly with one hand over the pot when ladling hot jelly into the jars.
See 10 Simple Steps to Becoming a Home Canning Expert for more canning information.
Ways To Serve Fig Pepper Jelly
My favorite way to serve pepper jelly is mounded on top of a cool, creamy block of cream cheese as a spread with my favorite cracker. This spicy fig jam would be perfect for charcuterie boards next to blue cheese or with apple slices on a cheese plate. Yum!
You can also serve these fiery figs as a dipping sauce for chicken strips, a sweet and sour sauce for a tenderloin lover's dream, a last minute glaze for a pork chop, or warmed up and poured over ice cream.
The last one may seem a bit odd, but not for some!
More Fig Preserve Recipes
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Recipe
Fig Pepper Jelly
A pepper jelly to top off a cool block of cream cheese made with figs, jalapeno peppers, and honey for a warm, sweet finish. You can eat it this way with crackers or use the jelly as a dip for chicken strips, a sweet and sour sauce, or warmed up over ice cream.
- Total Time: 39 minute
- Yield: 5 half pints 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh or frozen figs, crushed after rinsed and stems removed
- 2 whole jalapeno peppers, cut stem off and discard
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon butter, to keep jelly from foaming
- 1 1.75 ounces box Sure Jell
Instructions
- Sterilize five half-pint jars in the dishwasher or in a pot of boiling water on the stove.
- Rough chop peppers and process in a chopper or food processor until they are diced fine.
- Add figs, peppers, vinegar, sugar, honey, and butter to a heavy sauce pan. Bring to a boil with frequent stirring, then add Sur Jell.
- Boil and stir for 1 minute.
- Turn off heat and ladle into 5 hot, sterilized half-pint jars.
- Top jar openings with round seals and screw on lids and process in boiling water for 5 minutes.
- Remove jars from water onto a clean towel covering the countertop and let cool.
Equipment
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Notes
- Be sure not to inhale the fumes of diced peppers; this can cause a reaction.
- Listen for the pop of the lids that ensure preserving as they cool.
- Use safe food preservation methods.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 - 20 minutes
Keywords: Fig Pepper Jelly
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Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.
Mother Teresa
