Unripe Fig Jam
I became an aunt two days ago and I was as excited as my brother and his wife. They live in a city far away from us, but the distance wasn’t enough to reduce my excitement! It was noon time and I was at school, making exams when I had a phone call from them. They were at hospital and telling me that they were counting minutes for the delivery. I felt as if I was taking the exam during this waiting time! I don’t remember the number of people whom I told that I was waiting for my niece’s birth. After about half an hour, I heard my brother’s joyful voice on the phone. He was happily telling that his newly born daughter is just like me. This doubled my excitement and I tried to envisage her little and cute face. Now I’m looking forward to visitng the mom and seeing my little neice soon. We have the youngest member of our family now, I wish her a peaceful future.
I’m sure there are various traditions about newly born babies in different cultures. Let me tell one of them in our culture. When someone has a baby, he buys something sweet such as Turkish delight, chocolate, or baklava (a traditional Turkish dessert with sherbet) and takes this to his work place to share it with colleagues. The people working there take one and tell their good wishes for the baby. When I think about our traditions for happy events, I realize that we always have a kind of dessert to celebrate.
When I saw unripe fig at the open market today, I decided to make its jam. This would also be meaningful for the importance of the day. A village woman was selling it. She told that she picked these unripe figs up from the tree in their village. She had no scales, just 2 bags of figs in front of her. She said each bag weighs 1 kilo (2,20 pound), and her word was enough for me, no need to weigh on a scale. I bought one of the bags, but I had never made unripe fig jam before although I ate many times. As you can guess, I asked the recipe to that woman and she gave the instructions providing that I would come back and tell her the result. I think I succeeded, so I can feel proud when I go back to the open market with a bowl of jam not only to tell but also give her the result as a gift.
You might find it weird to make jam of unripe figs, but I can tell that you don’t feel any unripeness when you taste it. We call it jam, but I think it can also be included in category of desserts as I love to eat it not just at breakfast but also during day with cream, ice cream or plain. 
I mentioned the benefit of unripe fig sap in the recipe of dried fig dessert. That sticky white liquid is helpful in the treatment of skin warts. Just drop it on the wart and see the result.
Ham İncir Reçeli
Ingredients
-Â Â Â 1 kilo (2,20 pounds) unripe fig
-Â Â Â 1 kilo sugar
-   5 ½ cups water
-Â Â Â 1 lemon
-Â Â Â 4 cloves
Wash the figs and clean their stems. We’ll boil the figs two times changing the water each time to lose its unripeness taste. Fill a large pot with water and boil the figs for about 10 minutes. Let it cool.
When it is cool enough to touch, squeeze the figs gently to remove the bad taste. You can make tiny holes on figs with a needle if you like and then squeeze. Then fill the pot with water again, boil again and squeeze again. This squeezing part might take a long time, but if you are passionate enough, you’ll see it is worth. Then drain.
Meanwhile you can start to boil 5 ½ water and sugar together in a different pot. After it boils, add the squeezed figs in it. You will see that these figs turn back into their original shape in this boiling sherbet. Put the cloves with the figs to give this jam an outstanding flavor. Boil them for about 25 minutes. Finally, add lemon juice and boil it 5 minutes more.
Let it cool and fill it in jars. You can keep them at room temperature, at a dry and dark place. We love it cold, so we keep it in refrigerator. This makes a great summer dessert!
If you remove cookies from oven tray when hot, they don't stick on the tray.
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie on Sat, 20th Jun 2009 7:08 pm
Congratulations on becoming an aunt! How exciting! The unripe fig jam looks very unique!
OysterCulture on Sat, 20th Jun 2009 7:38 pm
Zerrin, congratulations on being an auntie. I know I was so excited when I first became in auntie I jumped in the car and was at the hospital about 4 hours later. Your niece is so lucky, I am sure the two of you will have so much fun getting acquainted.
We have similar traditions in the states, where, typically the father brings something into work, sometimes fake cigars to pass around to announce the arrival of the newest family member.
Figs are starting to come out in the markets, and I love the unripe fig jam, I may have to try my hand at making some.
Daily Spud on Sun, 21st Jun 2009 1:56 am
I remember the excitement I felt the first time I became an aunt (and the second and the third and… – yes, I have a lot of nieces and nephews
).
If I thought I could get unripe figs, I’d give the jam a go, but unfortunately unripe figs aren’t too common around here. It was lovely to hear, though, that the recipe from the lady at the market turned out so well and that you’ll be bringing her some of the jam next time you visit.
Lauren on Sun, 21st Jun 2009 6:08 am
congrats on becoming an aunt!!!
this recipe looks fantastic!! I love love love figs…. they are pretty much my favorite food on earth. Unfortunately the slimate here isn’t right for them, so they can be hard to find.
Jen of a2eatwrite on Sun, 21st Jun 2009 8:41 am
Congratulations! This looks like a lovely treat, but I wouldn’t be able to find unripe figs here, although figs are among my favorite foods.
In the U.S. we used to have a tradition of men giving out cigars, but now they tend to be chocolate cigars. I think this is a tradition that maybe isn’t done anymore. One tradition we do have, though, is to put a sign out at the home of the new parents – pink for girls, blue for boys.
elra on Sun, 21st Jun 2009 3:45 pm
Wow, congratulation on becoming an aunt! It will really exiting to see your niece grows….
Unripe Fig Jam sounds so tempting. I have Fig tree in my backyard, and it is fruiting. Maybe I can give this recipe a try. Delicious!
Turkish Food Passion on Sun, 21st Jun 2009 8:04 pm
Zerrin, ne kadar marifetlisin! Hic incir receli yapmadim, ama tadi gercekten de guzel. Geleneklerimizi aciklama seklini de cok sevdim. Ellerine saglik! Ayrica hala oldugun icin de tebrikler! Ne guzel.
Sophie on Mon, 22nd Jun 2009 12:40 am
Congrats on being an aunt!
I bet this unripe fig jam tastes lovely & apart!
Great idea!
vanessa on Mon, 22nd Jun 2009 6:00 am
Yeah!!! Congrats! There is nothing like a little girl to change a father, they just melt!
Hillary on Mon, 22nd Jun 2009 6:18 am
This is very different. I love the way you described waiting for your niece’s birth. I felt exactly the same way when my first niece was born 3 years ago and I was just as excited with my second niece
Gera @ SweetsFoods on Mon, 22nd Jun 2009 7:44 am
Hooray for you for becoming an aunt!!
I’ve the same tradition about a birth, I must take something sweet to the happy new mom/dad
I’ve few figs here so is difficult to make fig jams but when I’ve a possibility, I’ll try it out..hope will be like yours with this recipe!
Cheers and have a great week!
Gera
gastroanthropologist on Mon, 22nd Jun 2009 8:09 am
I have never seen anything like this! My aunt (congrats by the way) has a fig tree back at home in California. I’ll bookmark this for when I move back – there is always so many figs…if we can get to some of the unripened ones then we won’t be stressed with what to do when they all ripen!
Tangled Noodle on Mon, 22nd Jun 2009 1:51 pm
Congratulations to you on becoming an auntie and to you brother and his wife on becoming happy parents to a precious little girl! What a lovely way to celebrate – a sweet treat for a sweet event.
Although I’m not hopeful that I could find unripe figs here (I do, however, now have some dried figs!), this recipe is so nice; it does appear to be time-consuming but as you point out, the end result is well worth the effort. It was kind of the woman at the market to give you a recipe but even more kind for you to want to return with the results. She can taste for herself how wonderful her figs and her recipe turned out!
lisaiscooking on Mon, 22nd Jun 2009 2:32 pm
Congratulations on the arrival of your niece! The figs look fantastic too!
Zerrin on Tue, 23rd Jun 2009 8:34 am
Natasha- Thank you so much! I saw her photographs, she is so little and cute.
Oyster- Believe or not, I started to imagine the joyful times we’ll have together as she grows. Maybe I’ll be her secret keeper in the future. Who knows?
Daily Spud- It’s every time so exciting, isn’t it?
As for the lady, she will probably be surprised when she sees the jam. Then she may decide to share more recipes with me:) Such ladies at the open market always know a lot about cooking.
Lauren- Thank you so much, I’m still excited! Fig is one of my favorite fruits. I think it needs hot climate to grow up.
Jen- Thanks for sharing that tradition of yours. Chocolate cigar is a great idea! Not the real one, but a chocolate version, much healthier. Blue and pink have the same meaning here. Department stores sell blue clothes for boys and pink for girls. But I really don’t understand this, and I’m totally against deciding the colors for babies.
Elra- Thank you. If you are open to new tases, you should absolutely try this jam. It has a unique taste, so different from regular jams.
Nihal- Bu incir reçelini ben de çok seviyorum ve ilk denememde hiç de fena birsonuç elde etmedim. Bu reçeli ben kahvaltıda değil de tatlı olarak her an tüketebilirim:) Hala olmak gerçekten çok güzel bir duyguymuş, hala çok heyecanlıyım. O küçük sevimli şeyi görmeye sabırsızlanıyorum.
Sophie- Glad you love it. If you can find figs, you should try it.
Vanessa- My brother’s already started to change! He’s become more emotional. And I’ll see how more he will change as she grows.
Hillary- Believe or not, I’m still excited and I’m looking forward to seeing her. Just her photos make me so happy.
Gera- We have similar traditions then. Here new moms and dads serve their guests something sweet, in your country you take something sweet.
Gstoanthropologist- How lucky you are to have a fig tree in your aunt’s garden. You can use them both unripe and ripe. I hope you love the jam when you try.
Tangled- Thank you so much! She is the sweetest thing I’ve seen.
You have the dried figs now, so you know what to do with them, don’t you? And I hope that lady loves these figs when I take her some.
Lisa- Thank you so much!
Veronica on Thu, 25th Jun 2009 11:34 am
5 and a half what of water? I see you have written it several places…
Zerrin on Thu, 25th Jun 2009 2:28 pm
Thank you Veronica for warning. It should have been 5 and half cups of water. I’m correcting it right now.
Magdalena on Mon, 29th Jun 2009 5:39 am
Zerrin,
Thank you for this recipe! Since I moved to Bulgaria 4 years ago (from Southern California), it has become one of my favourites — but until you posted this, I had never considered making it…
The next day, there were green figs at the market! And it all works perfectly
Congrats on the recipe and on being an aunt.
Magdalena
Zerrin on Mon, 29th Jun 2009 11:53 am
Hi Magdalena,
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and writing a comment. I had a very busy and tiring day today and when I saw your very nice comment, I forgot all my tiredness. Such comments always encourage me to go on what I’m doing in this blog.
Happy to hear that you love my recipe and it worked well. I’m sure your fig jam is so yummy. If you have any questions about any of my recipes, feel free to ask.
Bulgaria is one of our closest neighbor countries and I’m so curious about it. Hope to see there one day.
Cheers from Turkey
stephchows on Tue, 14th Jul 2009 5:16 am
HI! Seriously interesting recipe! I’m hosting a jam exchange this month and was wondering if you’d like to join in?? I’m trying to gather a whole bunch of people and all it takes is being willing to mail 2 jars of jam to someone. All the info to sign up is here: http://stephchows.blogspot.com/2009/07/jam-exchange.html
Hope you can join in!
Zerrin on Tue, 14th Jul 2009 5:37 am
Hi Stephanie,
I love that idea of exchanging jam, it’s so exciting! I read the info about this event on your blog, you say we can join even if we’re in different countries. I’m living in Turkey, please check if your post service says ok to sending something to Turkey.
I’ll ask our post service, too if I can send something like food to abroad .
Then we can clarify if I can join it or not.
Faith on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 5:56 pm
Congrats on becoming an aunt! I love figs, and I am always looking for new recipes to use them. This dish sounds delicious!
Gourmet Mama on Tue, 1st Sep 2009 5:14 am
This recipe is perfect, since I just found some fresh figs at the market. I didn’t know what to look for, though, and it turns out they are all unripe. I will definitely be making this recipe!
Chef Chong on Thu, 3rd Sep 2009 11:37 am
I love your idea of boiling the figs, to get rid of those green taste. Thanks.