Have you ever had a fresh fig before? If you haven't, you should definitely try them. Next time you're at the grocery store, look for them in the produce section.
I love figs, don't you? I don't know if any of you have had fresh figs, but they are totally and completely different from dried figs, which I also love. Get some green apples, grapes and figs, with a nice wheel of brie cheese? Yum. You can also go with fresh mozzarella, feta, or just plain farmers cheese. Basically, any mild white cheese goes well with the fruits. Pair it with a bottle of white wine or a bottle of asti, and you've got yourself a serious snack plate. Add some prosciutto, or ham, or some dried sausage to the plate, hell, any kind of cured meat and you've got yourself a terrific lunch (or dinner). YUM!!!
Figs have been around in the middle east and the mediterranean for centuries now, and there are written accounts about figs in all sorts of historical documents.
It's even in the Bible, both old and new testaments. In the Old testament, it represented the richness and bounty of Israel, and in the New testament, the withering fig tree represented the decaying teachings of the Saduccees and the Pharisees. Yep, that's the fig tree that Jesus kills.
But did you know that figs are also a great example of symbiotic evolution? Yep. Figs and fig wasps have evolved to help each other out: Fig wasps lay their eggs inside the fruit where the wasp larvae can safely develop, and in return, the wasps pollinate the figs. But what happens when a wasp lays its eggs but fails to pollinate the fig?
The trees get even by dropping those figs to the ground, killing the baby wasps inside. More than 700 species each of fig trees and wasps have co-evolved in the tropics worldwide, with each fig tree species having its own species of pollinating wasp.
Neat, huh?
More can be read about this here.
I know this might seem like there's some grand intelligence to it all, but trust me on this. There's not. :P
Never ate a fig before but you mentioned a couple of my favorite things! FETA CHEESE AND ASTI, ahhhh yea.