Fig, Honey and Walnut Jam

I have gotten more than 50 little figs off my Chicago Hardy fig tree so far this year.   They're a little smaller than a golf ball, but gorgeous and sweet and I'm so excited that I can grow figs here!

I knew I'd need at least 40 for this recipe, so as they ripened, I chopped them up and froze them.    Worked like  a charm and I think they were sweeter coming out of the freezer than fresh.

Notes:  I started with this recipe from Food.com.   The original recipe called for 2 cups of honey, but unless you're using really, really mild honey [not easily available anywhere], the honey totally takes over the flavor.  I wanted fig jam, not fig flavored honey.   So, here's what I did:



Fig, Honey and Walnut Jam
www.rurification.com
3 cups chopped figs [About 40 Chicago Hardy figs, stems removed]
1 cup honey
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Put figs, lemon juice and honey in a wide bottom saucepan.   Bring to boil, turn down the heat and simmer until thick.  45 minutes or so.   I cooked until it started sheeting off the spatula.  Add walnuts and simmer for another 15 minutes or so.   Put in jars with clean lids.  Store in refrigerator.  Yield: 2 pints.

[I processed my jars of jam for 10 minutes to can it, but I'm not a canning expert so this is me not telling you what to do, but only what I did.]

Walnut Debris

We know the squirrels have been busy when we see piles of walnut debris in piles all over the place.   We have loads of walnut trees and plenty of happy squirrels - mostly grey squirrels, but some fox squirrels, too.  

You can collect these hulls and freeze or dry them to use for dyeing.  They make beautiful colors.

Those Blasted Walnuts

We have a few black walnut trees in the yard.   Every other year they have a bumper crop of walnuts that drop all over the yard and garden.

All.  Over.

It's a chore to pick them up, but it's good exercise.   And we can save some for dyeing.   The rest are raked into piles and then dumped across the way for the squirrels, or left in the road.    

Last year, I raked a monster pile to the edge of yard and then forgot about it.    This spring, it started growing.  

Because I need 250 more walnut trees next to the mailbox. 

So I got a rake and a shovel one day last week and took care of it.  

The good news is that it had composted beautifully!  There were four wheelbarrow loads full of walnut debris.   I hauled it all across the way. 

The bad news is that when I was done, I had a huge bare patch in the yard.  I had forgotten that a pile of walnuts is toxic to whatever is underneath.

I figure it'll grow grass again sometime.  In a decade.  

In the meantime, it'll be easy to mow.   And fun to see which weeds take that spot over first.   I'm hoping it'll be the wild vinca.   I like that stuff.

Natural Dye - Black Walnut

It's walnut time.

There's always one day in October when the wind starts blowing hard and walnuts start falling from the trees.    Those are dangerous days.    Don't go under the trees unless you have to - and if you get caught, hug the trunk.   You're less likely to get hit if you're hugging the tree.

You'll look silly, but it's true. 

Walnuts are great dye plants.   Gather them now and keep them in a bucket until you're ready to use them.   Keep the bucket covered and outside.   They'll start to wither, then turn black, then ooze and the smell is a lot less than pleasant.    Collecting natural dyestuff can really test your intestinal fortitude.    Yep.

You can use these to dye any time.    You can dye with them now or wait until they're black and oozing or wait until they've freeze dried all winter.   No matter.    They'll dye beautifully.

These are the colors we got on [L-R] cotton, alpaca, silk, wool, superwash wool.    Beautiful browns.

What you do is soak the walnuts overnight in a pot of water.   The next day, boil the whole thing for an hour and then let it sit overnight again.  On the third day, strain out the walnuts and dye your fiber.

If you're using really fresh walnuts - oozy and black - then you can just boil it all the first day and let it sit over night.   Skip the first soak.

You can also fill a bucket with walnuts and drop your fiber in there and just leave it in the sun for a few days.   It'll be splotchy, but beautiful.