National Fig Week
We are not sure who’s behind this week, who started it, etc. The most information about it seems to be on a website called “recipies4us, click here.
The California Fig Advisory Board has a nice website about figs. But no mention of National Fig Week. The website has fascinating information, however, information that dull men like to read, such as the History of Figs and Interesting Fig Facts.
1st – 7th November is National Fig Week. Figs are thought to be one of the oldest cultivated fruit, dating back over 6000 years, so it seems fitting that they should have a week to themselves and National Fig Week is the ideal time to celebrate these flowers. Flowers? Yes, figs are indeed inverted flowers, so not strictly speaking a fruit but for the purpose of this editorial, we’ll continue to call them fruit.
Monika Adamczyk – Fotolia.com Unlike many fruit, figs don’t contain much vitamin C, however nutritionally, they outgun most others in numerous ways. They are a better source of vitamin B6, have higher quantities of minerals, including potassium, and contain dietary fibre than many other fruit. As a consequence of the high fibre content, figs are a mild laxative. Dried figs are also an excellent source of calcium.
Historically figs have been referred to and revered from the earliest of times, though we doubt there was a National Fig week. They are mentioned in the first book of The Bible (Genesis) and some scholars believe the forbidden fruit picked by Eve was a fig rather than an apple, which would actually make more sense as it’s supposed to be a fig leaf which Adam chose to ‘protect his modesty. The ancient Greeks are believed to have fed figs to their athletes (Spartans) to induce strength and vitality and the Roman’s gave fresh figs to their agricultural slaves to help keep them fit and therefore able to work harder. Not forgetting old Cleopatra with her basket of figs hiding the asp .
Figs are also considered a symbol of fertility in many cultures possibly because each fruit contains between 30 and 1,000 seeds…sometimes more.
Whatever the reason, be it for its nutritional values or its exquisite taste, below are some recipes to help you celebrate National Fig week. If you want more information about figs including origins, history, cultivation, buying and storing the visit our Figs Ingredient Analysis page.
Enjoy National Fig Week and Happy Cooking !
For recipes CLICK HERE!
