The hardest part of this recipe is chopping the figs. I suppose you could buzz them in a food processor, but you need to beware of pureeing everything, which would be bad: you want this to be chunky, but not so chunky you can't spread it on bread. Thus the chopping. If you want this to set up like a traditional jam, add pectin. Or you could just cook it down even more than I do. Once you can this jam, it will last a year in the pantry.
Zest and juice the lemons and set aside. Chop the figs roughly into small pieces. The skins of the figs tend to stay the same size no matter how long you cook them, so be mindful when you are chopping -- you don't want big hunks of fig skin in the jam when you're trying to spread it on toast, do you?
Add the bay leaves, salt, sugar, lemon juice and zest and half the ouzo to the figs and mix well. Let stand at room temperature, covered, for at least an hour but no more than five hours.
Get a big kettle of water ready to can the jam. Sterilize your jars and lids.
Bring the fig mixture to a simmer over medium heat and let this cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how loose the mix was at the start. This recipe makes a loose jam anyway, but you do want it to be spreadable. Stir the mixture often, otherwise the figs and sugar will fuse to the bottom of the pan and burn. Not good. When the jam is done, turn off the heat, wait for it to stop simmering and then stir in the rest of the ouzo and the citric acid, if you're using it.
Pour the fig jam into sterilized pint jars and seal. Process in boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove, let dry and check the seals when the jam is cool. The jam should last at least a year.