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Dessert

Preserved Figs

A method of preserving figs by soaking, simmering, and encasing them in a lemon-ginger syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,154 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Preserved Figs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the figs

  1. Cover the figs with cold water and soak for 12 hours.

  2. Simmer the figs in enough water to cover them until tender.

  3. Spread the figs on a sieve to cool and harden.

Make the syrup

  1. Make a syrup with 1 cup of cold water for every pound of sugar.

  2. Boil the syrup until clear of scum.

  3. Add the figs to the syrup and simmer for 10 minutes.

  4. Spread the figs on dishes in the sun.

  5. Add the lemon peel and ginger to the syrup.

  6. Boil the syrup until thick.

  7. Give the figs another boil for 15 minutes.

Pack and seal

  1. Fill jars three-quarters full with figs.

  2. Top off with boiling syrup.

  3. Cover and seal when cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Fig + gingertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together208 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Fig + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together763 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Fig + sugartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ripe figs
Provide the main fruit, which softens during soaking and simmering to become tender.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, boiled into syrup, helps preserve the figs.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and supports preservation.

The step that matters

Boil the syrup until thick. Sugar concentration is what preserves the figs; a syrup that is not boiled down enough can let the fruit spoil. Skimming scum first keeps the syrup clear.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, ginger):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Figthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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