“Fruit of the Heavens”, an apt name to the sweetest *sugar wise* fruit of all ! Figs have been considered as a royal fruit and a delicacy even when they are served in the dry form.

Top of the charts in the list of fruits with sugar content, Figs have a glycemic index of 61 which makes it a
“High Sugar” content fruit . On average a single peice of fig has anywhere between 8-10 grams of sugar content and while it weighs only around 40-50grams, that is high levels for a fruit so small.

while easter is a known day or even the friday before that … which is ” Good Friday “, the monday of that particular week is known less by many but known as “Fig Monday” Or “Holy Monday” as the Bible tells of how Jesus preached on the power of prayer under a barren fig tree on the day after His Entry into Jerusalem.

“Fig”, as a fruit and as a flower has many references attached to it in many languages as it is taken as a symbol of purity and beauty. In some contexts, it is also taken as a symbol of not judging a book by its cover as a harmless and beautiful fruit houses at many times dead wasps inside it in the form of “Fig Wasps”

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Fig wasp also called fig insect, any of about 900 species of tiny wasps responsible for pollinating the world’s 900 species of figs . Each species of wasp pollinates only one species of fig, and each fig species has its own wasp species to pollinate it. This extraordinary diversity of coevolution between figs and wasps has become so profound that neither organism can exist without the other.

Although ! Don’t panic, you’d never know and most figs these days are actually hand cultivated without this process. So don’t forget to get some figs on your plate this summer.

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Figs come in three colors – black, white and green & even though they are entirely edible, some people peel them before consumption. Since the figs are very delicate , they are very difficult to be exportyed in their perfect stage of maturity. They taste the best once cut into quaters or one-eights and served with cream cheese or honey! They can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days, but as they start to go bad they change their smell to a foul odour once over riped.

Dried Figs are made the ripe figs of autumn(fall) season. They are scattered over a large area and then turned every few hours, upon drying they flatten and form a cushion. Dry figs are high in natural sugars and have a soft texture.
They are available in forms of neckalces where they are threaded through a string or in solid block forms. One can have them directly or can stuff marzipan (almond paste) in them and make them in to a bite size dessert! thye can be used in compotes, poached in wine or served with creamy custard puddings.

Dry figs go well with meat, poultry or game dishes & can be substituted for prunes in chicken, pork or rabbit dishes such as terrines, stews or casseroles. One has to soak them in red wine to rehydrate them before using them in cooking to have the best taste.

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Too Much Of Anything !?

While a small serving of figs a day is great for one’s health, as the great old saying goes ” Too much of anything is surely bad for you!

Figs might help better your health by having the following benefits –

• Promote digestive health
• May improve vascular and heart health
• May help manage blood sugar levels
• Potential anticancer properties
• May promote healthy skin

As mentioned Figs have some potential downsides.
Thanks to healthline for the information

For instance, as they’re sometimes used as a home remedy for constipation, figs may cause diarrhea or other digestive problems (10Trusted Source).

Figs are also fairly rich in vitamin K, which can interfere with blood thinning medications and cause them to be less effective (1Trusted Source, 23Trusted Source).

If you’re on a blood thinner, you should keep your intake of figs and other vitamin-K-rich foods consistent from day to day to decrease your risk of complications (23Trusted Source).

Finally, some people may be allergic to figs. If you have an allergy to birch pollen, you may be more likely to have a fig allergy as well. Fig trees also contain natural latex, which some people may be allergic to (24Trusted Source).

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Facts about Figs!

Certain types of fig are male and female and so require a special breed of wasp to pollinate the females.

The female wasp crawls inside through a hole so narrow that she loses her wings in the process and becomes trapped. If the fig is a male, she lays her eggs inside. These hatch into larvae that burrow out, turn into wasps and fly off, carrying fig pollen with them. If the wasp climbs into a female fig, she pollinates it, but cannot lay her eggs and just dies alone.

Luckily for us, the female fig produces an enzyme that digests this wasp completely. The crunchy bits are seeds, not wasp parts.

As Qouted from “Science Focus”