D.I.Y. Delicious: Recipes and Ideas for Simple Food From Scratch by Vanessa Barrington, Sara Remington Read Free Book Online

heat and let the jars sit in the hot water until you are ready to fill them. This step is necessary for sterilizing the jars. Do not touch the jars with your hands once you have sterilized them, but use sterilized tongs.
    Put the lids in a small bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let them sit until you are ready to use them.
    Put the saucepan with the figs and sugar on the stove. Bring the figs to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the figs begin to release their juices. Lower the heat to a very slow simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to thicken, about 20 minutes. Put the rosemary in a tea sack or in a square of cheesecloth tied into a bundle and add it to the figs. Continue to cook until the jam becomes darker in color and begins to thicken noticeably, 10 to 20 minutes more. To test for the proper thickness (gel point), drop a small spoonful of jam onto the chilled plate. Check it after 30 seconds; it should move slightly when you tilt the plate, but not run. If it runs, you need to cook the jam longer. If it doesn’t budge, your jam might be over-firm. This won’t hurt the jam, but as it ages, it becomes drier and you may need to heat it before using.
    Once the jam is cooked, stir in the lemon zest and juice and add a pinch of salt.
    With the tongs, remove the hot jars from the water bath, saving the water for processing, and place them, right-side up, on a tea towel. Ladle the hot jam into the hot jars, discarding the rosemary. Leave ¼ inch of headspace. If you see air pockets on the sides of the jars, dip a knife in the boiling water to sterilize and run it along the insides of the jars to eliminate.
    Carefully wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth or paper towel. Place the lids on top and fasten the rings. Now you must process the jam. If you’re using a canner, simply bring the water you used to sterilize the jars to a boil. Place the jars in the rack that comes with the canner and lower them into the boiling water. Process for 5 minutes. If you don’t own a canner, use the large stockpot you used to sterilize the jars. Place a folded tea towel on the bottom of the pot to cover it and bring the water back to a boil. Using tongs, carefully place the jars on top of the tea towel, right-side up so none of the jars touch the bottom of the pot. Process for 5 minutes. Depending on the size of your jars and stockpot, you may have to process in batches.
    Remove the jars from the boiling water bath and place them on a clean towel to cool on the counter. After several hours, push down gently on the tops of the lids. The lids shouldn’t move, bounce, or make a popping sound. If they do, they aren’t sealed adequately to prevent spoilage. Refrigerate any jars that failed to seal and consume them first. Properly sealed jars will keep at room temperature for up to 1 year as long as there is no mold or obvious signs of spoilage. You can remove the rings after the jars are sealed and reuse them. Never reuse the lids.
What’s the Deal With Processing Jam?
    You may have noticed that many older preserving books don’t call for processing jam in a water bath, but just for filling the hot jars with hot jam and then cooling until the jars seal. To be honest, I don’t always process my jams, and have never had any trouble. Since the USDA now recommends it as an extra measure of sterilization, I give processing instructions in the jam recipes here. Please note that I would never take this risk with anything but jam, due to its high sugar and acid content. I always refrigerate any jars that fail to seal, whether they were processed or not, and I always refrigerate after opening.
Pulled Pork Canapés
with Fig-Rosemary Jam

    Here’s an elegant way to repurpose your leftover Mustard and Bourbon-Glazed Pork Roast and it is a fun thing to try with your Fig-Rosemary Jam. Of course, you can use any leftover pork or any other jam you have on hand to