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In the Northern Hemisphere, fresh figs are in season from August through to early October. Fresh figs used in cooking should be plump and soft, and without bruising or splits. If they smell sour, the figs have become over-ripe. Slightly under-ripe figs can be kept at room temperature for 1–2 days to ripen before serving.
Contrary to popular belief, ripe figs are not full of dead wasps and the "crunchy bits" in the fruit are only seeds. The fig actually produces an enzyme called ficain (also known as ficin) which digests the dead wasps and the fig absorbs the nutrients to create the ripe fruits and seeds. [ 8 ]
Ficus (/ ˈ f aɪ k ə s / [2] or / ˈ f iː k ə s / [3] [4]) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae.Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone.
Figs also need a lot of elbow room to grow and should be planted 15 to 25 feet apart. Petite varieties only reach six to eight feet, but the Chicago hardy fig, for example, can grow up to 30 feet ...
The tear-dropped pod know as a fig may seem like a fruit, but it's actually a flower. And that's just one of the jaw-dropping facts to learn about them.
After pollination, figs ripen quickly. The growth rate of figs is slower during the cold dry months in comparison to hot and rainy months were fruit growth is concentrated. [4] Fruit bearing figs are heavily laden; a single tree may produce up to 1,000,000 fruits with a diameter of 1–2.5 cm.
Females emerge from ripe figs and fly to another fig tree with developing syconia (which contain the flowers). They enter the syconium via the ostiole, pollinate the flowers, and lay their eggs in some of the ovules. The ovules containing eggs develop into galls that support the growth of the wasp larvae.
Ficus americana, commonly known as the West Indian laurel fig [4] or Jamaican cherry fig, [5] is a tree in the family Moraceae which is native to the Caribbean, Mexico in the north, through Central and South America south to southern Brazil.