Our neighbor went on vacation this month with a heavy heart, knowing she'd miss eating most of the figs just starting to weigh down the branches of her backyard tree. So she asked us to do her a "favor" and eat as many as we could before the birds got to them. Being the kind-hearted souls that we are, we obliged.
I'd never even eaten a fresh fig before, let alone cooked with one, so I needed some suggestions. Between tips from friends on Facebook and Twitter, browsing other blogs and perusing good old cookbooks, I learned a lot.
"Jam them with gorgonzola," one friend advised. "Figs are great sliced open and stuffed with walnuts," said another. Lisa suggested a sandwich involving goat cheese, arugula and sliced figs, and another friend sent a link to a recipe for grilled figs with honey and ginger. All of these things sound amazing; what to try first?
Then one friend's response curbed my appetite considerably.
"I don't eat figs. I know too much about what's inside," she said. "That's all I'm going to say."
Which, of course, sent me into a tizzy of Googling and guessing. I remembered a rumor I heard as a kid about there being ground-up bugs in Fig Newton filling—was that it? Yep, I was on the right track. My friend and many others believe there are insects inside figs.
And they're right, as it turns out. Fig trees only bear fruit thanks to something called a fig wasp. The wasps are born inside the figs, and when the females hatch, they crawl out to find a new fig in which they can lay their own eggs. During this journey, they pick up pollen from the fig's male flowers and carry this into their new fig-nest, pollinating the seeds inside.
But it's a one-way trip; the females die after laying their eggs. And the males who hatch inside the fig are stuck there too—after mating with the young females and chivalrously chewing exit holes for them, they're too tuckered out too leave (and they don't have wings, anyway).
So yes, there are definitely dead bugs in figs. But the fig essentially digests the dead wasps as it ripens—ashes to ashes, dust to dust, fig to fig, you get the idea—so don't worry, that crunchy texture in the center of a fig really IS just its seeds.
Technically, there is at least one dead wasp per fig. However, you are in no way eating a live wasp. That wasp exoskeleton is always broken down before we bite into figs.
To combat these beetle pests, set bait traps prior to figs ripening. When the traps have done most of the work of ridding the tree of beetles, spray the tree with an insecticide containing malathion in a sugar/water solution according to the manufacturer's instructions.
If a female burrow into a female fig, she cannot lay her eggs and dies of starvation. However, she does bring pollen into the internal flowers of the fig, pollinating it. So yes, there is at least one dead wasp inside the figs that we like to eat. This applies to southern figs.
Aside from this, the figs you're probably buying at the store don't require wasps at all. “Over millennia, farmers have developed thousands of varieties of this species. Many of these do not need to be pollinated to produce tasty figs,” Shanahan said.
Why can't vegans eat figs? Some vegans see the mutual relationship between wasps and figs as animal exploitation and ultimately animal consumption. They, therefore, avoid figs entirely. Most vegans, however, consider figs to be vegan and consume them.
The fig mite infests bud scales and young leaves. Feeding causes a faint russetting of the leaves, generally in the interior portion of the canopy and may result in leaf drop and stunting of twigs. More importantly, this mite transmits the fig mosaic virus.
As long as you're planting common fig varieties, you don't need to worry about having other trees present for pollination purposes. And rest assured, you're probably not going to be eating bugs when you're eating figs.
Having fulfilled her life's mission the female wasp dies inside the fig. The eggs become grubs that grow inside the seeds. After completing their full development in a few weeks they emerge from inside the seeds. The males emerge first and start looking for females to mate with.
Remove leaf litter and other organic matter from the soil surface in spring to starve larvae. Also, allow the soil surface to dry out and harden to imprison the adults before they emerge. Flood irrigate to destroy eggs and young larvae; they cannot tolerate saturated soil for over 2 days.
18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
Jesus curses the fig tree because in it he has found only the appearance of fruitfulness — many leaves. Let this be a lesson to us. There is no excuse for being unproductive.
Ripe figs are delightfully rich and sweet with a soft, smooth texture when they are fresh from the tree. Unripe figs can be rubbery, dry, and lack sweetness. The most effective way to tell your figs are unripe is to eat one before its peak.
You may have read that fig trees require a special "fig wasp" for pollination and fruit production. You may have also read that each variety of fig requires its own species of special wasp. While this is true for certain varieties of figs, wasps are not needed for every fig variety.
Fresh figs can last for two to three days when you store them at room temperature in a dry place. Figs will keep for up to a week if you refrigerate them under the right storage conditions with plenty of room to breathe in the crisper drawer. Frozen figs have a shelf life of up to a year.
Gently squeeze each fig. They should have a little give without feeling mushy. Wrinkles aren't a big deal with figs, but the skin should be unbroken and free from any bruises or blemishes. Look for richly colored skin that's soft to the touch.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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/tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/2011052009005848984294_e00927fe4d-400x372.jpg "Fresh Figs, and Bugs? (1)")
