Discover the Delicious World of Figs: Top 14 Fun Facts You Never Knew!

1. The Fig: A Cluster of Fruits

Behold the fig! A fruity enigma wrapped in a riddle, filled with mystery and seeds - a kind of delicious, edible plot twist: In truth, each fig is not one fruit, but rather an intricate cluster of tiny individual fruits, each sprouting from delicate hidden flower buds, harmoniously coexisting to create the intricate taste and texture of the unassuming fig.
Source => sonmaiol.com

2. Nematode Night Club

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Figgy's Night Club, where the nematodes party hard but never leave the building: In the fascinating world of figs, pollinating wasps not only lay their eggs but also introduce little nematodes that can develop in both male and female figs of dioecious fig trees. However, since wasps entering female figs can't reproduce, these figs become inescapable traps for the doomed nematodes, showcasing the often-overlooked dark side of tropical ecosystems.
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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3. Female Figs: Wasp Assassins

Move over, James Bond, there's a new secret agent in town – the female fig, licensed to kill wasps with enzymes: Female figs produce a specialized enzyme that effectively breaks down and digests any wasps that inadvertently enter the fruit during pollination, ensuring that the crunchy seeds remain free of wasp parts and absolutely safe for human consumption.
Source => sciencefocus.com

4. Bees' Knees: Figgy Edition

Figs: the only fruit that can claim to be a literal "bee's knees" without fear of cross-pollinating any metaphors: These intriguing fruits utilize tiny wasps for pollination, but fear not, the crunchy texture in your figgy indulgences comes from seeds rather than insect remnants, each representing one of the multiple flowers housed within the fig's delectable walls.
Source => fs.usda.gov

5. Fig Newtons: Unrelated to Sir Isaac

Defying figgy newtonian laws and toppling pastry-based preconceptions, the Fig Newton wasn't let loose on the world by some fig-crazed physicist with a sweet-tooth but by someone far craftier with dough: Behold, Charles Roser, a Philadelphia-based baker who, in 1891, invented a machine to enrobe fig paste in a delicate pastry embrace, subsequently sparking mass hysteria when Kennedy Biscuit Company caught wind of the invention and purchased the patent, leading to the naming of the treat after the town it was first made in: Newton, Massachusetts, where the first Fig Newtons were baked at the F.A. Kennedy Steam Bakery, forever making Sir Isaac Newton roll over in his grave, despite no relation to the cookie.
Source => nationaldaycalendar.com

6. Figs: Not So Sugary After All

Feeling figgy with it: Figs may tantalize your taste buds with their sweetness, but they're not the reigning sugar champions among fruits! Plot twist: a medium-sized fig carries a humble eight grams of sugar, placing it behind the likes of grapes, cherries, and pears in the grand sugar showdown.
Source => insider.com

7. Figs: BFFs with Wasps

They say you are what you eat, but when it comes to figs, they're really the company they keep: a tiny fig wasp, Pleistodontes imperialis, gets invited to an intimate dinner party inside the fig's flowers - these little bugs lay their eggs while nibbling on figgy goodness, ensuring the tree keeps pumping out more figs for us to enjoy.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

8. Figs: Nature's Libido Booster

Move over, little blue pill: there's a delicious fruit that may have you considering fig-leaf fashion in no time! Setting the stage for fruitful activities between the sheets since ancient Greece, this curvaceous beauty boasts a titillating tale, promising pleasure in more ways than just its sweet taste: Figs are a true symbol of fertility and love, packed with health benefits such as aiding digestion, controlling blood pressure, and improving memory. Not to mention, they're filled with zinc, manganese, and magnesium which can boost reproductive health and libido!
Source => dailypioneer.com

9. Ancient Fig Fashionistas

Fig-uring out the latest in haute-couture trends? Well, it turns out Adam and Eve were quite fig-cy dressers after all: Fig fibers have been utilized since ancient Egyptian times to create sustainable textiles for paper and clothing, and now even modern-day fashionistas are embracing fig-based fabrics for their eco-friendly masterpieces!
Source => ebible.com

10. Figs: Your Bone's Best Friend

If you're looking to bone up on your health and keep your skeleton from turning into a calcium catastrophe, just take a fig leaf from Mother Nature's book and chew on this: Figs pack a serious punch of essential bone-building minerals like calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, boasting 3.2 times more calcium than other fruits! So next time you're in the mood for some fruity osteoporosis prevention, crack open a fig and help your bones stay strong and mighty.
Source => bbcgoodfood.com

11. Turkey's Fig-tastic Production

Did you know that Turkey, the nation and not the bird, has a sweet tooth for fig production? They've gobbled up their competition and rule the perch: Turkey leads the world in fig production, exporting nearly 85,000 metric tons in 2019 alone. These fig-loving folks cultivate their tasty treasures along Mediterranean, Black Sea, and Aegean shores, as well as tucked away in valleys of southeastern and eastern Anatolia. In fact, it's not uncommon to find wild fig trees nesting in these regions too!
Source => herbalgram.org

12. Picky Fig Trees

Much like a picky house guest, fig trees demand specific accommodations and attention that may make a host think twice about extending an invitation: Despite being easy to grow, fig trees need a carefully maintained environment with mild winters, a dry climate with proper drainage, and plenty of watering during hot, dry periods to ensure they don't lose their fruit or leaves before their time.
Source => homeguides.sfgate.com

13. Figs Throughout History

When figs are "frau-tree-tized", we have a ficus-ting history: Figs were consumed by humans as far back as 11,400 years ago in the Jordan Valley, predating the cultivation of wheat, barley, and legumes by 1,000 years in the Middle East. In an ancient village called Gilgal I, archaeologists found a special mutant variety of figs that needed human assistance to propagate, which makes it the earliest example of agriculture and highlights the importance of our intervention in the figgy world.
Source => nbcnews.com

14. Figs: Scandalously Shakespearean

Figs, the scandalous fruit of yore: In Elizabethan England, figs enjoyed a rather salacious reputation, with "fig of Spain" as a popular insult in Shakespeare's Henry V; merely hinting at the hand gesture equivalent to biting one's thumb would have the audience in stitches without antagonizing the censors.
Source => folger.edu