Figs

The fig tree is indeed an extraordinary creature with a complex and fascinating biology. What we think of as the fruit is really an inside-out blossom---a cluster of ingrowing flowers, known botanically as a syconium. The inside of the fig is lined with hundreds of male and female flowers. The males carry pollen while the females bear seeds.

Legend has it that fig trees were planted in the hanging gardens of Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar II. Greeks and Romans believed this delicate fruit had been sent from heaven. They’re also associated with Christmas since the time of Charles Dickens. Believed by some so be the actual “forbidden fruit” eaten in the Garden of Eden, since Adam and Eve clothed themselves in fig leaves after partaking; they are steeped in a complex and symbolic history---a kind of Holy Grail of fruits.

Figs are thought to be native to Asia Minor and western Asia, eventually spreading throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean. The fig tree appears throughout the Old and New Testament of the Bible, and Sumerian stone tablets dating back to 2500 B.C. have recorded their culinary use. The remains of fig trees have been found in excavations of Neolithic sites dating from 5000 B.C.

They were introduced to the New World by Spanish and Portuguese missionaries, mainly to the West Indies in 1520 and to Peru in 1528. From the West Indies, figs quickly spread across the southeastern United States.

The first figs were reportedly flourishing at Parris Island, South Carolina by 1577. Two years later, they were in St. Augustine, Florida, and by 1629 they had been introduced to Virginia via Bermuda.

They were exported from the West Indies to Spanish missions in Mexico, and spread to California where the Franciscan missionaries planted them in their gardens in San Diego in the middle of the 18^th century-hence the name “mission” for the dark purple California figs we know and love today.

Thomas Jefferson had fig cuttings sent to Monticello from Paris at the end of the 18^th century. Jefferson’s passion for figs helped promote varieties in Virginia and the Carolinas. He deemed the white Marseille fig as being superior for its small seeds, jammy taste and unique creamy, white flesh. In many areas of the South, fig trees grow so abundantly that they became an accepted part of the countryside landscape.

There are many varieties of figs available but most are very difficult to transport, so the variety of figs in grocery stores or at farmer’s markets will depend on the distance from the source. The three most common varieties are the Black Mission, Brown Turkey and Kadota.

My husband’s fig trees froze this year due to the cold so he was not a source for figs. We had dinner with a neighbor the other evening and they told me about all the figs they were eating. Boy, did I want some of those figs. They told me to come down and pick all I wanted early in the morning so that I did. The variety is the Celeste which is a Southern favorite. It is a small, pear-shaped fig that has purple-brown skin and very light pink pulp. They are deliciously sweet and are therefore also called honey or sugar figs.

I wanted to do something nice for picking their figs so I made them a Carolina Fig Cake. I found this recipe in a magazine in North Carolina. In the Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island is dotted with 14 varieties of figs that thrive despite the heat, salt, and sand. The island has become famous for its moist, spice fig cake that was first made in the 1950’s or 1960’s by the late Margaret Garrish. Her children say she did not have dates for a date cake recipe and her fig version spread to other home cooks via church suppers and community potlucks. The cake is now served at a number of restaurants on the island and sold by the slice at a fish house.

Recipe adapted from the Ocracoke Cook Book published by the United Methodist Women of Ocracoke Island, and Nancie McDermott’s Southern Cakes.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup unsalted butter

3 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda (dissolved in buttermilk)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. salt

½ cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup fresh figs, chopped (preserved figs were originally used in the recipe)

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preparation:

Cream together butter, sugar and eggs until pale yellow and fluffy. Add sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Add vanilla and fold in the figs and nuts. Pour into greased bundt or tube pan and bake at 50 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and roasted walnuts.

I gave the cake away and never tasted it, but it sure did smell good so I would say it was a winner!