Laroyces' Fig Jam Recipe

My neighbor Laroyce is an amazing woman. She has lived on and run her 10 acre orange and avocado ranch next door since the 50's. She works outside doing hard work every day , teaches Sunday school, was a missionary in Thailand and raised three boys alone because she was widowed years ago. Many people in the community know her and love her since she was a third grade teacher and taught until she was in her 70's. When I first moved here she convinced me to take in a 12 year old  Chinese exchange student for three weeks. We suffered torrential rains that year and our road was washed out for 5 months. I felt bad taking that boy in since he didn't get to see much those three weeks as we were basically stranded! Laroyce also teaches my seven year old piano, runs a bible study from her home and babysits various neighbor children. All that and she's 82! 

Laroyce makes incredible jam,  especially fig jam , so when she called me saying she had a bumper crop of figs and would I like some,  I headed right over. I made fig jam with pectin from my own trees a couple months ago and honestly, it was pretty mediocre. So when I asked her about her delicious recipe she shared it with me and now I'm going to share it with you. With her permission of course. She has been making this no pectin jam for years . Pectin wasn't always available in the old days. The trick is just to use an equal amount of sugar as fruit and cook it a long time until it thickens up on the spoon. She also never uses a water bath for the jam but I do like to use a water bath just to make sure the jam is sterilized. She didn't want me to take her picture even though I think she is beautiful but she did allow me to take a picture of her fig tree above.

Laroyces' fig jam
Supplies and ingredients
A large canning pot
Canning funnel , tongs, and jars with lids and cover
A food processor
Figs
An equal amount of sugar as figs
A lemon

1. Sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water for 10 minute

2. Wash figs and take the stem off each one

3. Put figs in food processor. You can also just chop them finely.

4. Measure chopped up figs

5. Measure out an equal amount of sugar

6. Add the figs, the sugar, and the juice of a lemon to a stockpot. Cook and stir frequently until the jam runs thickly off the spoon. Mine cooked for 45 minutes.

7. When you first get started put a small dish in the freezer. When you think the jam is ready drop some jam onto the plate. If it hardens up the jam is ready. If it still runs you need to cook it longer.

8. Funnel the jam into the sterilized jars and place the lids and screw caps on them.

9. Place the jars in a large pot of boiling water with the tongs. I forgot to photograph this step but this is what the pot looks like. The water has to cover the tops of the jars at least two inches. Boil the jars for ten minutes, then remove the jars and cool them. Enjoy !