Fun Fig Facts: Why I had them all wrong
I’ve never been a fan of figs. Why? Something about them reminded me of little kids and old people. They just didn’t seem like a “cool” fruit. I know how that sounds, “who eats fruit because it’s cool?”
Hi, my name is Samantha, and I am a fruit snob. There, I admitted it.
But like every good prejudice, it comes from a place of ignorance. And boy was I ignorant.
My re-education about figs started with a walk around Beauregard Town, which is lousy with fig trees. My coworker, Leah, who is a green goddess, plucked one and took a bite. Because I seem to love her germs, I took the offer of a taste and ate the half she didn’t.
Mind… blown.
What? That’s what fresh figs taste like? It’s so sweet. How did I live this long without actually eating fresh-off-the-tree fig? Did my preconceived notions about figs prevent me from enjoying this little drop of delicious joy from dancing on my tastebuds.
Yep. Again, it all comes from a place of ignorance.
I turned to my good buddy google to learn more about figs.
A 2001 study shows that 1300 bird and mammal species eat figs, which means figs are feeding more wildlife than any other known fruit. The yummy treat is also available year round, not just during one season.
Many figs do not require pollination, but some are pollinated by wasps! That’s right, you thought wasps were a useless nuisance. Nope, that’s just another one of those prejudices showing through.
Wasps are responsible for pollinating the fig, but it’s not the traditional bee/flower method. That’s because the fruit is actually an inward flower. The female wasp enters an unripe, male fig (we don’t eat those) and lays her eggs. Once the baby wasps pop, they all get frisky and the males (born wingless) chew a tunnel out of the fig. Then, they die. The females jump through the male-produced escape route, and then they take off and look for a new fig tree to lay their eggs.
When they find a new tree, they crawl inside still coated with pollen from the birth tree, and the process starts anew. Oh, but the entrance of a fig is also booby-trapped, so it destroys the female's wings so she can never enter a new plant. She eventually dies inside the fig, and then you eat her.
Mind… blown!
But wait, there’s more, and this is all really just the beginning.
When it comes to your diet, the fig is a low calorie, high in calcium, copper and vitamin B6. Copper is great for your metabolism and energy production, and B6 is necessary for brain health.
Some studies say that figs could have potential health benefits relative to digestion, your heart, and for managing blood sugar levels.
Figs are a home remedy for constipation. But watch out, because it can make things move a little too smooth if you catch my drift.
Besides personal health, figs have a part to play in a healthy environment.
Fig trees are super eco-friendly. Not just because they provide delicious food, but they can actually help to bring land back to life!
The ficus is extremely resilient. Like, extremely. In fact, after a volcanic eruption, they were literally the only thing that survived. And when an area has been deforested, they are the first to return. Because they’re fruit-bearing, they attract all the cool kids back to the block. They get the birds and the bees and the wasps and the… right, you get the point.
All of this activity helps to bring other plants back to life, which attracts even more critters. Mother Nature knows what she’s doing.
Because these resilient, high-yield, low-cost plants can grow in any tropical environment, they are perfect for the urban landscape in the south. So yeah, add fig tree to your fruit forest concept. And stop judging a fruit by it’s product branding.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACTS
Fig trees seem to go back about a hundred million years.
Buddha achieved enlightenment under the bodhi tree, a large and old sacred fig tree!
Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover up.
Figs are known as the fruit of the gods.
Figs have 55% natural sugar content, making them the sweetest of all fruits
Pureed figs can be used as a fat substitution in recipes. Use half the amount of fig puree as you would use butter or oil.
Click here for more information from the Louisiana State University Ag Center.
References used for this article
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-nearly-magical-properties-of-fig-trees
https://www.foodunfolded.com/article/how-fig-trees-restore-forests-and-biodiversity