On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 19:24:17 -0500, George Shirley
> wrote:

>
>Mostly they will hold their shape if handled with care. The stems are
>supposed to be cut off before you make the preserves. Maybe I forgot to
>mention that? The mark of a good fig preserve canner down here, or so
>the Altar Society Ladies tell me, is the figs remain whole and the figs
>and syrup are a deep amber color. I can tell you this, I ain't made it
>yet but I still like my fig preserves. Miz Pettijohn always gives me a
>pint of hers that are perfect and they don't taste any better than mine
>but I ain't telling her that.
>
>I wouldn't worry about the shape of the finished product.

Well, they came out dark amber as did the syrup. They mostly held
their shape too. I'll worry about the green bits later. LOL.

I did have rather more air in the jars than I'd expected to. I filled
to within 1/4" of the rim as the instructions said, got out the air
bubbles I though but now I seem to have more air than that would
account for. Will this be a problem?

>George, who had a wonderful time with his descendants and ate waaay too
>much Tex-Mex grub while he was there, not to mention the pork ribs.

Sounds like fun to me!