For the Love of Figs

In an excerpt from her book, Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties, writer Julia Reed celebrates one of the South’s most treasured fruits

JUDY REED'S FIG PRESERVES

Yield: 2 pints

4 cups figs
1 cup sugar
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded

1. Trim stem ends and rinse figs. Put into a heavy-bottomed saucepan with sugar, lemon slices, and 1 cup water. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until a thick syrup forms.
2. Transfer hot figs to 2 sterilized 1-pint Mason-type jars, top with sterilized lids, and seal in a hot-water bath according to the jar manufacturer's directions. Cool and store in a dark place.

Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties: An Entertaining Life (With Recipes) (St. Martin's Press, 2008, $24). For more stories from Julia Reed, check out her first two books: The Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena (Random House, 2005, $13) and The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story (Ecco, 2008, $24).

|From the July/August 2008 Issue

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