Drunken Fig Preserves

My Dad is a fig FANATIC. And this is probably an understatement. His yard of more than 50 trees encompasses 21 varieties of fig trees, each one with a distinct flavor, sweetness, and personality.

Each year I am lucky enough to be able to gorge my belly full of these delectable treats, but a human can only eat so many! So we have started canning the rest into tantalizing Drunken Fig Preserves. We sell them at the local Farmer's Market, and also gift them to friends.

In this process, from planting to harvesting to preserving, the entire family gets involved. Everyone helps out with the digging and tilling of the soil, picking of the hundreds of figs before the vermin get to them, and canning of the preserves.

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A few varieties of figs below with descriptions. My dad gets all his fig seeds from the USDA seed bank. Apparently, you shouldn't always trust whatever you buy from your local nursery.

www.figs4fun.com is a good resource for fig fanatics.

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Step 1: Supplies and Materials

This recipe is pretty simple. The most important thing is having nice, quality figs. This makes about 10 cups of preserves. You can size up or down the proportions if necessary.