The shocking (and stomach-churning) secret inside EVERY fig

So how many of you like Figs? I only ever eat then at Christmas but i love a fig biscuit. Well it seems that the secret inside every fig is a decomposed dead wasp! It seems the fig needs the wasp to crawl inside to pollinate it but during the process the wasp loses it wings, gets stuck and dies!

Figs are technically inverted flowers that store their pollen inside the fruits.

As the female wasp slides through the narrow passage in the fig, her wings are ripped off and while she is unsuccessful in laying her eggs, she successfully pollinates the female flower.

The now flightless female wasp dies inside the fig, where special enzymes break down her carcass into protein.

The fig basically digests the dead insect, making it part of the resulting ripened fruit.

The special relationship, which biologists call an "obligate mutualism", has taken place unchanged for the past 34 million years.

www.express.co.uk...


media-1.web.britannica.com...

Maybe figs are off the menu for vegetarians now?

Meh. Not a big fig fan ( say that five times fast!), but I still like Newtons.

This begs the age old question, what came first, the wasp or the fig?

I knew there was a reason I never liked those things!

No wonder they taste so great!!

I knew it..I always was suss about this gnarly fruit!

It's a Close call for me between figs,dates and my (not so) favorite oranges

Thanks for the heads up OP
I'll spread the good word..

a reply to: PhoenixOD

I hate wasps so thank goodness for figs!

Just saw a metaphor...

Imagine if the soul was a wasp and the earthly life experience was the fig!

Read now read OP again.

Figs are technically inverted flowers that store their pollen inside the fruits.

As the female wasp slides through the narrow passage in the fig, her wings are ripped off and while she is unsuccessful in laying her eggs, she successfully pollinates the female flower.

The now flightless female wasp dies inside the fig, where special enzymes break down her carcass into protein.

The fig basically digests the dead insect, making it part of the resulting ripened fruit.

The special relationship, which biologists call an "obligate mutualism", has taken place unchanged for the past 34 million years.

Bummer.

Shh it's a secret.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Love them with some prosciutto and some balsamic vinegar

So that is why wasps hate me, I love Figs.
Not that they are readily availailable in th US as in Europe.
I miss figs. Newtons are carb wanna be figs. Fake.
Why don't they teach tit-bits like this in school, it would have been so much more fun.
WIS

And then we wrap the fig in bacon...

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
And then we wrap the fig in bacon...

Annnd you just became my favourite mod....

Well, never touching figs again. Not that I've had many to begin with.
I bought some a year ago wondering what was so great about this fruit which has been touted in civilizations for centuries.
Surely, I had some thought of it being a super healthy choice while wandering through the produce section and purchased them with the self-satisfaction that I was giving my body the kind of food it SHOULD be eating.

Was not impressed with this mostly flavorless mushy dead raisin. I remember thinking how could anyone consider this a treat? And that maybe, I've just not experienced the true majesty of a tree-ripened fig fresh from it's branches.

And now, I never will.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
And then we wrap the fig in bacon...

Now that's evolution.

Mmm bacon for 2nd line.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD

Maybe figs are off the menu for vegetarians now?

Well, they're off the menu for me

Poor wasps - insects really have a raw deal a lot of the time, don't they?

Thanks for passing on this information - I like figs but wouldn't have ever touched them if I'd known.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

This makes me like figs all the more.

It's really amazing what nature does for us....just by nature.....

That's part of why I feel we are all gardener some way or another.


Mmmmm...wasp mama's nom ..nom .. nom....

originally posted by: Ironhawke
Meh. Not a big fig fan ( say that five times fast!), but I still like Newtons.

I tried to like figs but I can take them or leave them, I cannot say "Not a big fig fan" five times fast.
Thanks for the frustration of trying to say it about 30 times before I gave up:-)
Interesting thread and thank you OP!

Nothing wrong with learning what is actually in our food.
Regards, Iwinder

Hahahahahahahaha. My partners brother is what I would call a "Netflix Vegan"' and whatever, everyone chooses what they put in their body; but he eats figs like they're going extinct. He also preaches to everyone in the family how they should follow his diet, which he's been following himself for exactly three months.

Hahahah Hahahahaah Hahahahaah bahahaha. So. F$^%*£g. Satisfying.

I
Will
Never
Eat
Another
Fig
Newton
Again

originally posted by: greencmp
a reply to: PhoenixOD

I hate wasps so thank goodness for figs!

Bumble bees have good karma, but wasps...not so much