• now this is something I have a lot of experience at; I may not have canned figs until recently, but I sure spend a lot of time as a kid picking them
• pick the figs that are soft and when the end of the fig is just starting to open 
• do not pick figs that are too soft or smell sour
• the figs must be picked daily when the trees are bearing
• do not pick figs after a heavy rain; if you expect a rain, get out and pick them before it rains

 

• wash the freshly picked figs.
• remove the stems (some leave the stems on, but who wants to remove them at the table)

either can immediately, or store for no more than a day in the refrigerator

• add 8 cups (about 4 lb) sugar to a large thick walled pot
• stir in  just enough water to dissolve the sugar, about 1 1/2 to 2 cups
• stir and bring to a boil for a couple of minutes until clear
• add 16 cups (1 gal) washed, de-stemmed figs
• the fig to sugar ratio is 1 part fig to 1/2 part sugar by volume; 

adjust the recipe based on the volume of figs you have to can.
• cook over low heat to maintain a slow boil
• stir occasionally, but not so vigorously to mash the figs too much
• do not cook over too high a heat or the figs will stick and burn

cook until syrupy and the figs are a light brown, about 2-3 hours
• I like my figs mashed a bit, so I mash them lightly at the end;  some like to keep them as whole as possible - do what ever "floats your boat"

• clean pint and/or quart canning jars, rings and lids

it's a good  idea to boil the jars, rings and lids to sterilize

• fill the canning jars with the hot fig/syrup mixture to about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the top of the jar
• wipe the top of the jar to assure there is no fig/syrup around the top rim of the jar
• place the lid on the top of the jar, and screw down the ring finger tight;

if you screw the lid down too tight, then air cannot escape during boiling
in the next step and you may not get a good seal upon cooling
• immerse the jars in a boiling water bath, and boil for 30 minutes
• remove the jars from the bath and tighten down the ring 
• set the jars aside and allow to cool; as they cool you will hear the lids pop when they seal
• after the jars are cooled, check that all the lids have popped inward
• do not store any jars whose lids do not seal
• after the jars have cooled and sealed, you can remove the ring;  any jars

with a loose lid that did not seal should be refrigerated and eaten 
immediately
• label and date the jars

pH, Acidity, Water Activity and Food Safety
My food science buddy Al tells me you want canned fruit to have an acid pH of 4.6 or less to prevent anaerobic food poisoning bacteria from growing .  Figs are not very acid and have a pH of 4.9-5.0.  For this reason some recipes call for a teaspoon or so of lemon juice in each jar before canning to make sure the pH is low enough.  However, my mother never added lemon juice, and we all survived.  Another option is to pressure cook the figs as one would low acid vegetables, but who wants to do that!  So my buddy Al tested some of my canned figs and said they are safe because the sugar content is high enough to decrease the "water activity" enough so that the pathenogic bacteria cannot grow.  You should decide if you want to be extra safe and add lemon juice.  Personally, I'll just stick to my mama's high sugar recipe.  For more detail to make your decision go to Canning Foods At Home.