Fig - Fruit with high Sugar

Scientific Synonym - Ficus carica

Also Known As - Higo (Spanish), Figue (French), Feige (German), Fico (Italian).

Native to - southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region (from Greece to Turkey) Iran and Pakistan, and also in the rest of the Mediterranean region and other areas of the world with a similar climate, including California, Oregon, Texas, and Washington in the United States, Nuevo León and Coahuila in northeastern Mexico, as well as Australia, Chile, and South Africa.

Rich Source of - Figs are one of the highest plant sources of calcium and fiber

Tastes like - soft sweet fruit, full of small seeds and often eaten dried

Propagation - Figs can be propagated by suckers, layering, or cuttings

Interesting Facts -

• Although commonly referred to as a fruit, the fig fruit is actually the flower of the tree, known as an inflorescence (an arrangement of multiple flowers), a false fruit or multiple fruit, in which the flowers and seeds grow together to form a single mass.
• The fig fruit is an inverted flower with both the male and female flower parts enclosed in stem tissue.Actually, these so-called seeds are usually nothing more than unfertilized ovaries that failed to develop, and they impart the resin-like flavor associated with figs
• Dried figs contain a lot of sugar, about 60%. It is thought that that was the reason why Plato advised Greek athletes to eat many figs. Its nutrition for athletes
• 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.
• Good food for increasing weight and strength
• In Mediterranean countries the fig is so widely used, both fresh and dried, that it is called "the poor man’s food".
• It was one of the first plants ever to be cultivated by humans.
• Fossilized figs dating to 9400-9200 BC were found in an early Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley. About's Archaeology Guide, Kris Hirst says figs were domesticated "five thousand years earlier" than millet or wheat. This common fig has been very kind to us throughout human history.
• Figs can be eaten fresh or dried, and used in jam-making. Most commercial production is in dried or otherwise processed forms, since the ripe fruit does not transport well, and once picked does not keep well.
• The sap of the tree's green parts is an irritant to human skin.
• The fruits were used, among other things, to fatten geese for the production of a precursor of foie gras.

Availability - July and August

Health Benefits -

• Immunity - It helps in the quick recovery after prolonged illness. It removes physical and mental exertion and endows the body with renewed vigor and strength.
• Constipation - The tiny seeds in the fruit possess the property of stimulating peristaltic movements of intestines which facilities easy evacuation of feces and keeps the alimentary canal clean.
• Piles - The fig is an excellent remedy for piles.
• Asthma - Figs are considered beneficial in the treatment of asthma phelgmatic cases of cough and asthma are treated with success by there use.
  
• The stem bark of fig tree is used as a medicine for bleeding gum's and pus in the gum.