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Dessert

Green Figs Preserved

A method for preserving half-ripe green figs in clarified sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 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 ↓

Green Figs Preserved

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the figs

  1. Prick the figs near the stalk.

  2. Scald the figs.

  3. When half cold, place the figs in cold water to drain.

  4. Heat the clarified sugar in a covered preserving pan.

  5. Add the figs to the pan.

  6. Boil the figs three to four times.

  7. Remove the figs and skin them well.

  8. Place the skinned figs in a warm place overnight.

Make the syrup and preserve

  1. Drain the syrup.

  2. Boil the syrup a dozen times.

  3. When lukewarm, pour the syrup over the figs.

  4. Let the figs stand until the next day.

  5. Drain the syrup again.

  6. Boil the syrup.

  7. Add the figs back in.

  8. Boil the figs together once more in the covered preserving pan.

  9. Skim the mixture.

  10. Jar for use.

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

Half ripe figs
Provide the fruit that becomes tender and sweet as it is cooked in syrup.
Clarified sugar
Forms the syrup that sweetens the figs and preserves them by drawing out moisture.

The step that matters

Boil the figs three to four times. Repeated boiling and resting in syrup gradually softens the figs and lets sugar penetrate, so they stay whole. Boiling too hard or too long can break the fruit apart.

“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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