Fig

Ficus are a genus of about 800 species of woody trees, shrubs and vines in the family Moraceae,

native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the warm temperate zone.

The genus includes one species, the Common Fig F. carica, that produces a commercial fruit

called a fig; the fruit of many other species are edible though not widely consumed. Other examples

of figs include the banyans and the Sacred Fig (Peepul or Bo) tree. Most species are evergreen,

while those from temperate areas, and areas with a long dry season, are deciduous.

A fig fruit is derived from a specially adapted flower. The fruit (an accessory fruit called

a syconium) has a bulbous shape with a small opening (the ostiole) in the end and a hollow area

inside lined with small red edible seeds. The fruit/flower is pollinated by small wasps that crawl

through the opening to fertilise the fruit.

Most figs come in two sexes: hermaphrodite (called caprifigs from goats - Caprinae

subfamily; as in fit for eating by goats; sometimes called "inedible") and female (the male flower

parts fail to develop; produces the "edible" fig). Fig wasps grow in caprifigs but not in the other

because the female trees' female flower part is too long for the wasp to successfully lay her eggs

in them. None-the-less, the wasp pollinates the flower with pollen from the fig it grew up in, so

figs with developed seeds also contain dead fig wasps almost too tiny to see.

When a caprifig ripens, another caprifig must be ready to be pollinated. Tropical figs bear

continuously, enabling fruit-eating animals to survive the time between masts. In temperate climes,

wasps hibernate in figs, and there are distinct crops. Caprifigs have three crops per year; edible

figs have two. The first of the two is small and is called breba; the breba figs are olynths. Some

selections of edible figs do not require pollination at all, and will produce a crop of figs

(albeit without fertile seeds) in the absence of caprifigs or fig wasps.

There is typically only one species of wasp capable of fertilizing the flowers of each

species of fig, and therefore plantings of fig species outside of their native range results in

effectively sterile individuals. For example, in Hawaii, some 60 species of figs have been

introduced, but only four of the wasps that fertilize them have been introduced, so only four

species of figs produce viable seeds there.

Check out the following recipes that are tagged "Fig":
Ice Cream "dressups", Pretty Party Mousse, Fresh Fig Cookies, Thyme-Fig Fruitcake, Fig Newtons 4, Fig Newtons (Shelley), Fig Star Cookies, Fig-Filled Cookies, Fig or Strawberry Newtons, Fig Newtons, Fig Newtons 2, Fabulous Fig Bread, Fig Quick Bread, Fig Rum Loaf, Easy Fig Pie, Pear& Fig Strudel, California Fig Oatmeal Cookies, Fig Newton Bars, Fig Stuffed Baked Apples, Fig-A-Ma-Jig, Fig Chess Tarts, Fig Pastries, Barley Water, Fig Bars, Coffee-Fig Delight, Tasty Fig Layer Bars, Brown Nugget Dessert, Honey Fig Acorn Squash, California Fig Coconut Balls, Mile-high Fig Pie (alternate For Cranberry-fluff Pie), Fig& Cherry Cobbler, Prosciutto And Fig Handrolls, White Chocolate Fig Kisses, Prosciutto And Brie Sandwiches with Rosemary Fig Confit, Bleu Cheese Spread with Figs, Bleu Cheese Spread With Figs, Fig Gems, Chocolate California Figs, Fresh Fig Cake, Fig Garden Party Cakes, Fig Preserve Cake, Brian's Spicey Fig Sauce, Energy Balls, Fig Comport With Pears And Prosciutto, Chewy Fig Granola Bars, Plum and Fig Pudding, Fig Fruit Cake, Ices And Sherbets, Fig Spooks, Fig Jam Muffins