Sunday, August 08, 2010

It’s a ficus go figger!

I call a fig a fig, a spade a spade. Menander

It’s a ficus go figger! Figs have been found in archaeological sites dating back over 11,000 years, making them possibly the oldest cultivated crop, preceding wheat and rye by over 1000 years. They are related to the mulberry, the family Moraceae, mostly tropical flowering trees, which include breadfruit and banyans.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” Genesis 3:7
In the Bible Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after committing the original sin; it is possible that the fig is the actual forbidden fruit. The Greeks held that the fig was given by Demeter to Dionysus, who used the many parts of it to symbolize fun and fertility. The fig tree is proclaimed as the Tree of Life and Knowledge from Central Africa to the Far East. The Bo tree under which Buddha meditated, was a variety of the fig tree, a cutting of which still grows in Ceylon. It is also a prominent food during Passover and Ramadan.
"Figs are restorative, and the best food that can be taken by those who are brought low by long sickness...professed wrestlers and champions were in times past fed with figs." Pliny
Not only the fruit with the highest amount of fiber, the fig is also high in cancer fighting antioxidants. They are high in potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese and contain more calcium than milk. Figs are among the most highly alkaline foods, making them useful in balancing the pH of the body. They are a good source of potassium, important in helping to regulate blood pressure.
"Shape is a good part of the fig's delight." Jane Grigson
The fig tree is native to the Mediterranean and does well in similar climates on all continents, save Antarctica.
There are basically three varieties of common figs:
Caducous (or Smyrna) figs require pollination by the fig wasp and caprifigs (other male and female fruiting trees) to develop crops. Some cultivars are Calimyrna, Marabout, and Zidi.
Persistent (or Common) figs do not need pollination; fruit develop through self-contained, parthenocarpic means and produce a seedless fruit. This is the variety of fig most commonly grown by home gardeners. Adriatic, Black Mission, Brown Turkey, Brunswick, and Celeste are some representative cultivars.
Intermediate (or San Pedro) figs do not need pollination to set the breva, or early, crop, but do need pollination, at least in some regions, for the main crop. Examples are Lampeira, King, and San Pedro.

"There was an Old Person of Ischia,
Whose conduct grew friskier and friskier;
He danced hornpipes and jigs,
and ate thousands of figs,
That lively Old Person of Ischia."
Edward Lear

Festivals:
http://www.visit-montenegro.com/article-mne-9086.htm Budva, Montenegro
http://eventful.com/fresno/events/fig-fest-/E0-001-032326204-3 Fresno, CA

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