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Dessert

Fig Preserves

A preserve made by boiling figs in soda, rinsing, cooking with sugar syrup, and jarred.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,241 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the figs

  1. Prepare a boiling soda solution by mixing 1 cup of baking soda with 6 quarts of boiling water.

  2. Add the figs to the boiling soda solution.

  3. Let the figs soak for about 5 minutes.

  4. Rinse the figs in two cold baths.

  5. Drain the figs thoroughly.

Make the syrup and cook

  1. In a separate pot, boil the sugar and water together for 10 minutes to create a syrup.

  2. Gradually add the drained figs to the syrup.

  3. Cook the figs rapidly for about 2 hours until they are clear and tender.

  4. Carefully lift the figs out.

Pack and rest

  1. Place the figs in shallow pans.

  2. Cover the figs with the syrup.

  3. Let the figs sit overnight.

  4. Pack the cold figs into hot jars.

  5. Fill each jar to overflowing with syrup.

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Figs
Form the fruit itself, providing the bulk and flavor that the syrup surrounds.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the figs by drawing out their water.
Baking soda
Makes the soak alkaline, which softens the fig skins before cooking.

The step that matters

Rinse the figs thoroughly after the soda soak. Baking soda left on the figs can leave a soapy or bitter taste and can affect texture. Two cold rinses wash it off before the figs go into the syrup.

“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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