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SPICY FIG ORANGE MICROWAVE JAM

This spicy, orange-y fig jam is a cinch to make. We used mild green figs because we grow them, but you could easily use the darker Mission figs. The jam is a wonderful dipping sauce for nutty cheeses.

Ingredients

Diced fresh figs
(6-10 figs, depending on the size of the figs)

: 1 1/2 cups

Peeled orange, diced,seeded

: 1/2 cup

Sugar

: 1 1/2 cups

Grated orange peel

: 1 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice

: 3 tbsp

Ground ginger

: 1/4 tsp

Ground cloves

: 1/4 tsp

Cinnamon

: 1/4 tsp

Butter

: 1/2 tsp

Canning jars

: 2 (8-ounce)

Method

Place the ingredients in a large ceramic or glass bowl or casserole (we use a 2-quart pyrex measuring cup), stir to combine, let sit for 30 minutes for the fruit to macerate in the sugar.
Place in microwave. You will cook the fruit mixture on the high setting for approximately 15 minutes.
As soon as the mixture starts to boil, after about 6 to 8 minutes, stop the cooking and stir.
Continue cooking and stir every few minutes. At about 13 minutes the mixture should start to get viscous.
If you spoon out a bit on to a small plate that has been in the freezer, you can push the mixture around a bit with your finger tip to see how thick it is.
If it is runny, cook it a couple minutes more. You can also check by seeing how the jam runs off of a spoon. If it seems to firm up a bit as it drips, it's done.
If you use a large pyrex measuring cup as we have done here, you can see that you start with close to 3 cups of liquid. You want to boil it down to 2 cups.
Pour out the jam into jars, leaving 1/4-inch of headroom from the top of the jars.
If you want to keep your jam in a cupboard, then use sterilized jars (heat them in the oven at 200°F for 10 minutes).

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