Wholesome figs

Fig trees are fast growers and make for very rewarding fruit trees, writes Stephanie Choo

IT was during a brief trip to Janda Baik recently that I found myself drawn yet again to the juicy fruit called fig during a conversation. This time around, I wasn’t talking to a home gardener but to a modern greenhouse farmer and surrounded by hundreds of incredibly healthy growing fig trees.

Greenhouse-grown fig trees offer greater promise of yield and superior fruit, although some varieties are more vigorous than others.

The cooler night temperatures at the hillier Janda Baik is ideal for the trees to grow and bear fruits. Under protected and favourable conditions, the fruits are not only far less susceptible to rot normally caused by rainfalls, their sweetness and flavour would increase too.

Root-knot nematodes that can seriously threaten fig production are kept at bay with optimal water management and appropriate pest control measures. The coverings over the greenhouse frame prevent birds and other animals from feasting on the sweet and soft figs.

TREE OF ANCIENT DAYS

Ripened plump fruits are most delicious when savoured right off the tree and they stop ripening once picked. Beyond taste, figs can also keep us healthy as they are full of potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and copper and the antioxidant vitamins A, E and K.

The deeply lobed leaves are also edible and offer various health-related benefits. Their chemical compounds include antidiabetic and triglyceride-lowering properties when consumed.

Popularly known as buahtin in Malay, fig is in fact an ancient food. Mankind has been cultivating and consuming this wholesome fruit in the Middle East since the beginning of history. The beneficial leaves were made into clothing by Adam and Eve in the creation story.

Botanically named Ficus carica, fig is a member of the mulberry plant family, Moraceae and native to the southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region with warm and fairly dry climate.

Considered to be a subtropical tree, today there are hundreds of varieties being cultivated.

Home grown and commercial varieties are normally self-fertile. They are usually of the female parthenocarpic variety. They do not need pollen from another plant and will produce seedless fruits on their own. There are also varieties that rely on wasps for pollination but the fruits developed will likely contain bits of the insect.

Fig trees are shallow-rooted and have the potential to grow to six metres high and wide. The fruits come in many flavours and sizes, while the skin can come in green, yellow, purple, black or white. Meanwhile, the inside can be white, red, or purple depending on the variety.

Botanically-speaking, figs are synconiums and not fruits. They are flowers that are inverted into themselves, which is why you will not see flowers on the tree. The real fruits are drupes and they are the crunchy little seeds inside.