Fig Balsamic Recipe
We fell in love with fig balsamic and since then and have always wanted to make it ourselves. Now with a HUGE collection of figs that we didn’t get to finish eating, it was time to make our much anticipated fig balsamic before the figs went bad. This fig balsamic recipes post was one of our first recipe posts back in 2008. It’s fun to see how our photography and garden has changed over the years! 
Homemade Fig Balsamic Recipe
Summer doesn’t feel like it’s ending for us yet because there’s still an amazing amount of wonderful summer produce that’s reaching out to us every time we go to the farmers market. The summer fruit pangs hit us hard this year when it came to figs. The plethora of phenomenal figs has us buying more figs than we can eat, and they’re not cheap! Sometimes at $4-$6 for a basket of about 5-7 figs, it can get really pricey for fig lovers like us. Every where we turn around, there’s a different fig that we haven’t tried. So that means shelling out some major bucks for more, more and more figs. Now if only the farmers market accepted credit cards, then we’d be in serious fig and debt gluttony.
glorious figs
The fig balsamic was served on a Humboldt fog goat cheese plate and was meant to be drizzled on the cheese. Amazing! Another dish that we had was a heirloom tomato salad with a fig balsamic vinaigrette. In both these dishes, the fig balsamic was a delicious sweet, tart, tangy compliment to the cheese and the salad.
Warning! When using fresh figs, this amazing fig balsamic is not cheap to make.
Unless you have a fig tree that is yielding you with fig heaven, you’ll be shelling out half your paycheck for a batch for this stuff. With about $30 in fresh figs, we ended up with about less than 3/4 cup of fig balsamic. But all the gooey, sweet and tangy/tart concoction is worth every penny because it is so intensely flavored that just a little bit of the fig balsamic goes a long way. You can drizzle it on creamy cheeses (Humboldt Fog goat, Brie’s, Epoisses, St. Agur blue, etc.), on berries, or ice cream, use it as a glaze/marinade to add depth to meats (duck, lamb, pork) or mix it with a little olive oil for a fantastic vinaigrette to enhance your favorite salads. When stewed together, the sweet essence of the figs combines wonderfully with the tangy/tartness of the balsamic vinegar. The result is a dark, concentrated, sticky, gooey nectar of fig balsamic heaven. This reduction of fig and balsamic vinegar is something you have to try!
remove pulp
add balsamic vinegar, reduce
blend in food processor
strain to remove excess seeds
That’s it. Enjoy!
Fig Balsamic Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ripe fig pulp (about 10 oz figs) Sweet Mission figs or Brown Turkey figs
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Equipment
- Strainer
- Food Processor or Blender, optional
Instructions
- Scoop out fig pulp from skins.
- In saucepan, add fig pulp, balsamic vinegar and vanilla. Simmer on low heat for about 20-25 minutes, or until it becomes thick. Stir occasionally (every 5-8 minutes).
- Allow fig/balsamic reduction to cool. We like having the seeds in our balsamic as well as having it smooth. If you want it smooth, place mixture in blender or food processor. Blend thoroughly until mixture combines and becomes smooth. This step will also help release the seeds from any pulp that has not cooked down.
- In separate bowl, strain out fig seeds. Depending on your strainer, you might need to strain it at a couple times to remove most of seeds if you want a super smooth sauce. The reduction is very concentrated. Use about 1 teaspoon at a time (or to taste) to your favorite marinades, sauces, dressing and drizzles.
That looks wonderful! I wish I had a fig tree in my backyard.
This looks magical! Oh I love figs but (like Manggy) I can’t get them fresh here 🙁 Will try this with dried figs or preserves! (Manggy, you can get fig preserves at Terry’s)
I love figs too – but in the absence of anyone else in my family being keen they don’t make it into the house that often 🙁
I am a fig fiend too – love it!
The hubby is going to go crazy about this. He is an absolute fig fiend!
Hey, I’m back – sorry to been AWOL for so long.
Loving the look of this fig balsamic. Figs are ridiculously expensive over here, too, so I’m not sure that I’m going to be making it any time soon. Might be worth a try with dried ones, though, as you suggest… Hmmm….
Actually, we have indeed infused balsamic vinegar with dried figs. It is delicious though the consistency may not be quite as thick as your creation. It’s likely that it could be reduced further with heat, though we have not tried to do so. Use a nice quality balsamic. Grind about 1 & 1/2 “crowns” (round packs of dried calmyrna figs – preferably from Greece) in a “meat grinder”. A hand-crank model such as the “Porkert” (yes, funny name) from Europe is just fine. Place ground figs in a glass container or ceramic crock and add about 1 liter of balsamic vinegar. Allow mixture to “steep” in a cool, dry place for 4-6 weeks. Strain steeped mixture through cheese cloth and store in clean bottles. It lasts at least 1 year if stored in a cool, dry environment. We have used Kirkland Balsamic Vinegar of Modena sold in 1 liter bottles at Costco for this recipe and it worked great. We have used the same technique with dried bing cherries which we process in a dehydrator and the results were excellent.
This sounds so great…. Glad I read into the comments.
Wow that’s not a lot of yield for something that is pretty much perfect on its own. If you say it’s worth every penny though…
What? You don’t have a fig tree in your garden?!?
We have a 3-year old Black Mission Fig tree that is producing right now. Our friend has a super-old tree that has tons of fruit, so they gave us buckets of ’em. We usually eat them straight but now I think I’m gonna try your balsamic fig recipe. Wonder if it’ll go good on grilled chicken?
Looks sensational you two. I love simplicity and this combination seems easy to make and can complement a variety of dishes. Just found you from Tastespotting, I’ll be back.
–Marc
I’m with you in the fig lust department. My grocer is selling them buy one, get one free, so every time I go in there, I pick up another few pounds. Now the difficulty is getting through them all fast enough…lol, before I buy more. I can’t help myself!
I really love the idea of this balsamic and it never would have occurred to me. It sounds like a very valuable thing to have in the pantry.
Mmmm … expensive but it sounds delicious! Hopefully, I’ll get another CSA delivery of figs next week 🙂
Try Wholefoods. Not sure about there; but, I just found them up here for $3.99 a pound. Still not cheap but better than it was last week at $5.99 a pound! I will have to try this recipe out. Am going to attempt a fig jam as well. LOVE them!
I wish I could find fresh figs in town. I would love to taste this on fresh cheese & bread.
You know, I have only had fig in a newton. Isn’t that sad?
I have to try this. It sounds like a nice glaze for duck breasts!
Hello… I was tagged by Ning of Heart & Hearth, so I hope you don’t mind, but I’m tagging you… I would love to hear what you have to say…
Thanks…
http://myfinds-mikky.blogspot.com/2008/09/im-tagged.html