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Figs, Green, to Preserve

A method for preserving small green figs in salt and sugar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 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 ↓

Figs, Green, to Preserve

Ingredients

Directions

Brine

  1. Slit the tops of the figs and soak them in water for 10 days.

  2. Add enough coarse sea salt to the water to make it buoyant enough to float an egg.

  3. Let the mixture settle.

  4. Remove the scum from the brine.

  5. Pour the clear brine over the figs.

  6. Let the figs sit for 10 days.

Desalt and sugar

  1. Transfer the figs to fresh water.

  2. Change the water daily for 4 days.

  3. Drain the figs.

  4. Place the figs in clarified sugar, warming slightly.

  5. Let them sit overnight.

  6. Warm the figs again until they turn green.

  7. Boil the figs.

Finish and dry

  1. Boil some sugar until it reaches the blow stage.

  2. Add the boiled sugar to the figs.

  3. Boil the figs again.

  4. Drain the figs.

  5. Dry the figs the next day.

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

Small green figs
Provide the fruit that is preserved, softened and sweetened by the brine and syrup.
Coarse sea salt
Draws water out of the figs and preserves them through the brine stage.
Sugar
Sweetens the figs and, as a thick syrup, preserves them and gives them a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Brine strength. The water must be salty enough to float an egg. Too weak a brine can let the figs spoil or ferment during the long soak, while the clear brine keeps scum from settling back onto the fruit.

“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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