Fig and Orange jam.. mmmmm!

Here in La Flecha, in La Casa de los Abuelos (grandparents' house), there is a fig tree, whose fruit is different from the purple, tougher-skinned varieties that I have eaten in England. These figs stay green when ripe and the skin is soft and thin. They are OK but not exciting to eat raw as they have only a mild flavour and a rather mushy texture - I may be doing them a diservice by this description but it's how they seem to me! And they obviously were not to the children's taste because after one or two, they didn't want any more.

They were willing, however, to take a basket each and go picking and collecting so that we could freeze the crop for future use - Ruy particularly insistent that the best ones were at the top of the tree, which required climbing and balancing skills. And we collected a good few kilos, washed them and put them in to freeze.

I combed the internet for good-sounding recipes and came up with one called 'Spicy Fig Orange Jam' which appealed though Cesar wasn't keen on the 'spicy' bit. So I adapted it and left out the spices, added lemon zest as well as orange and threw in a few chopped walnuts from the tree in the Leon garden. And followed the incredibly easy microwave recipe to create a culinary masterpiece! So far, I've made five jars - using the microwave means you do small batches of about 2 jars at a time - and now only two remain. Los abuelos ate a whole jar whilst we were in Granada, which is pretty good going.

I am very pleased with it - and can only ask you to believe me when I say it is absolutely delicious. I am just so sorry that I can't get any of it back to England for my parents and family, because although my sister is coming out soon, she's only bringing a cabin/flight case and it's not possible to take pots or jars onto the flight. Hmm, on second thoughts, perhaps it's better that the whole lot stays here with us!!