Picking anything at Uncle Pat's place in the Texas Hill Country means I had better be prepared to deal with the abundant consequences. When we went out to pick figs I already had my Ball Blue Book of Preserving out with the recipe for Fig Jam marked and the needed ingredients were in the house.
Choose figs that are ripe, very ripe, and not quite ripe, but discard those that have gone beyond ripe and now smell punky or fermented. Wash them and cut off any bad spots. These recipes are for 5-pound batches of figs, so measure your fruit out into approximately 5-pound lots. Since figs have their own natural pectin and there is no need to add powdered or liquid pectin you can vary the amount of fruit slightly, but keep in mind the size of your pot and the number of canning supplies and jars you have prepared.
