On my 40th birthday, I was gifted a Mission Fig tree that was no taller than my 5″ 7″ self.

The tree loved her new home and grew quickly, spreading out her limbs and gifting us with buckets of sweet fig fruit within a few years.

She is a strong and sturdy tree. My teenagers do pull-ups on her limbs and she has survived all kinds of weather events.

She rebounded after an intense wind storm, where her largest limb snapped off. Overburdened with figs, her trunk broke in half one season. We worried she wouldn’t make it, but that summer she produced even more figs.

When we were planning to build my office eight years ago, the architects told us our fig tree would need to be cut down to make room.

We altered our building plan and moved the location of my office to make room our beloved fig tree.

As a gesture of gratitude, our tree has blessed us with fig “over-abundance” year after year.

With my office doors open in the summer, I hear the birds fighting for the juiciest figs that thrive on her crown. During work breaks, we go outside, stand in her shade and search for the plumpest and biggest figs to eat on the spot and later to bake and top with a dab of goat cheese.

To extend our fig enjoyment through winter and beyond, we collected over 7 lbs of figs and made 9 jars of buttery fig jam.

With virtual coaching from my Aunt Hedy in Canada, I cut up 7 pounds of figs, added some sugar, fresh lemon juice and a generous cup of brandy. I cooked on low for at least four hours to blend flavors and reduce the jam to the perfect thickness. The brandy adds a smokey, caramel flavor to the jam, that my family loves. However, it also tastes great without it.

Here is the recipe for fig jam that I modified by cutting the sugar by one – half and then adding it back as needed for thickening.

Drunken Fig Jam (Coach Beverly’s modified recipe)
You can easily google a recipe with more detailed instructions, but here is the basic idea.

• 4 pounds of figs cut into quarters
• 2.5 cups of sugar
• 1/2 to 3/4 cups of brandy
• Lemon juice to taste (about 1 squeezed).

Put all of the above into a thick pot and mix. Let sit for an hour, stirring occasionally. Then put on a low heat and let simmer for 4-6 hours to reduce to desired thickness. You may need to add a little more sugar for thickening and lemon juice for the right balance of sweet and “lemonyness”.

Then put into sterilized jars and follow usual canning procedures. I always save one jar as a refrigerator jam that we can start enjoying right away.

With all that is going on in the world, I wanted to write a post that is life affirming and voices my gratefulness for the generosity of nature and my fig tree in particular.

Coach Beverly

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