Figs are native from the Middle East region and are one of the first fruits to be cultivated. The Greek mention them around 60 A.C. and Plato promoted the fig as being the nutrition for athletes. Officially figs were imported to Europe around 1600. Today there are more than 600 different fig types.
• Figs variety differ in colour: green, crimson and dark brown.
• A fig tree belongs to the Mulberry family.
• The skin of figs is very thin and ripe figs can’t be kept or transported very well.
• As figs have to be picked when ripe you only can eat them fresh in the country of origin.
• In the warm countries figs are dried for export and storage.
• They are also used in the preparation of jam and chutney.
• The white juice that drips out of the fruit if the the stalk has been broken off is called latex. It was supposed to represent the universal energy and was used as a remedy against infertility and to incite the breast feeding process.
