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

originally posted by: BeefNoMeat

Oh no, you've piqued my interest. Please do tell me what Bill Cosby failed to disclose

It's toenails. And bones.

Caution Dumbass Americans detected. Most fruits have insects or insect parts in them.. Move on please. Figs will Consume, Yes you read this right, Consume 100% of the wasp inside them, the fig releases an enzyme that completely digests the wasps including all of its body parts. no that crunch inside a fig isnt a wasp its a seed. My advice dont eat an unripe fig.. though near impossible to do but theres always some nutcase who will try. 66% of the fruits in nature contain insect parts including bee wings and legs. if it starts of by pollination then its likely to have bug bits in. dont like this? be a carnivore... oh wait.. duh..

Apparently

There are 900 species of fig wasps, and each is responsible for pollinating one or two species of fig plant.

and with almost all of these wasps not looking like the well known yellow jacket or hornet and only a few mm in size most people who claim to have never seen a wasp near their fig trees just dont know what they are looking for mistaking the wasps for tiny flies.

Less popular varieties like the mission fig are almost all infected with the Fig mosaic virus.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Thanks for that info ... It makes sense why I may have never seen a wasp ... However I am going to discuss this subject with a good friend who is very knowledgeable of such things at the weekend ...

This diagram actually says there are two wasps that die in the fig, a male and female.




Double yum/yuk

Lol

a reply to: Char-Lee

Even common figs like the mission fig are pollinated by wasps. they just dont specifically require it. Once pollinated a common fig is much bigger and tastier and overall a better quality fig.

To whom it may concern,

The wasp can and will caprify a Common fig if it gets near and the fig is receptive.. the poor insect ( a mother ! full of eggs and smeared with pollen) wants nothing but a place to deposit her eggs and maintain her kin, as simple as that. Any caprified Common fig is bigger, sweeter, more flavored and a nicer and better quality fruit.

In years of rich caprifig production (like this 2013 season) farmers were very happy because their Common fig varieties meant for drying would yield an additional 10 to 15% more tonnage.

Francisco

figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com...

Very interesting topic! In hind sight, I now understand why some of my mission figs were larger and sweeter than others on the same trees.

Though I have no basis for this, other than observation, I have personally found that letting onions go to flower and seed increases wasp variety and activity. I have not paid enough attention to see if this is correlative to bigger/sweeter figs though. Wasps in general are very good pollinators and hunters; the large populations of paper and dauber wasps [in addition to the myriad of smaller unnoticed species] on the property are a testament to that.

On a side note, wasps get a bad rap because of aggressive offenders like yellow jackets and hornets [Varieties I do selectively exterminate], but in reality are non aggressive until provoked. As long as they are in unobtrusive areas, I have papers and daubers everywhere!

a reply to: J.B. Aloha

Very interesting topic! In hind sight, I now understand why some of my mission figs were larger and sweeter than others on the same trees.

Thanks for that input J.B. Aloha

In my job as a photographer who does a lot of insect macro photography ive always found the American yellow jackets to be a lot more aggressive than the European (Vespula germanica). This was a mistake i made the first time i went to photograph an American Yellow Jacket and got chased for a good quarter mile by several of them. lol

What's wrong with eating bugs? Extra protein ! Bugs are like high protein food. Worms too. Especially sea bugs. you can't be so close minded when it comes to food. After all eating cows and pigs is not all that clean either. Food is just food. If you don't like it that's okay ! But I don't think it's nice to put down others for liking it.

I am so intrigued by this thread [and what I now know to be in my back yard] that the following is submitted for inquiring minds.

Fig Web shows the 'nuts and bolts' of what PhoenixOD's cyclical diagram illustrated. Very neat stuff!

a reply to: J.B. Aloha

Hey thanks for that link, its got some great info on it

Heres some vids


You can see how the wasps dont look anything like the traditional yellow jackets.

Glad I can add to your thread

You can see how the wasps dont look anything like the traditional yellow jackets.

I noticed that too. The Wasps [in the video] look like miniature soldier flies [Hermetia illucens].

OR, the soldier flies 'mimic' them....

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Every late summer/ fall when there in season I eat minimum two cases, about 50. One of my favorite fruits of all time kadota are the best. Not gonna change anything for me.

Thanks Pheonix and Aloha ... Good to learn something new ... and now I know what I am looking for on our figs ... I would have thought the tiny wasps were something else ...

The inter dependency between not only these little buggers and other possible insects and plants is a fascinating subject ... does not put me off eating Figs that is for sure ... respect to the wasps for a job well done

a reply to: Dryad2

I love the sea bugs especially.
Saute'd in butter with a hint of garlic.

***drools like homer simpson***

a reply to: PhoenixOD

sure, sure… millions and millions of years ago….once upon a time…

again the Bible justified: creation happened in days. there are many insect-plant relationships like this and there is no evolution about it.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

I love figs, and I can say that is the best decomposing wasp I ever tasted.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD
a reply to: Char-Lee

Even common figs like the mission fig are pollinated by wasps. they just dont specifically require it. Once pollinated a common fig is much bigger and tastier and overall a better quality fig.

To whom it may concern,

The wasp can and will caprify a Common fig if it gets near and the fig is receptive.. the poor insect ( a mother ! full of eggs and smeared with pollen) wants nothing but a place to deposit her eggs and maintain her kin, as simple as that. Any caprified Common fig is bigger, sweeter, more flavored and a nicer and better quality fruit.

In years of rich caprifig production (like this 2013 season) farmers were very happy because their Common fig varieties meant for drying would yield an additional 10 to 15% more tonnage.

Francisco

figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com...

No they don't need or use wasps

The commercially cultivated fig tree is usually a female parthenocarpic variety of the ancient common fig (Ficus carica) and does not need pollination to produce fruit.
On the other hand, those species of fig trees that rely on wasps for pollination will likely contain bits of wasps in the fruit.

look up agricultural sites.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

For some reason you and others seem just to want to believe there are no figs without wasp pollination why is that exactly?
www.esa.org...

After learning the story of the fig and its wasp, the most common question is, “Do we eat wasps when we eat figs?” The short answer is that it depends—that is, some figs are parthenocarpic, meaning they are seedless. According to a 2006 Science study, these domesticated sterile figs could be evidence of the first use of horticulture in human history. The researchers discovered carbonized fig fruits in “an early Neolithic village, located in the Lower Jordan Valley, which dates to 11,400 to 11,200 years ago”—nearly one thousand years before cereal domestication.

The commercially cultivated fig tree is usually a female parthenocarpic variety of the ancient common fig (Ficus carica) and does not need pollination to produce fruit.

Persistent (or common) figs have all female flowers that do not need pollination for fruiting; the fruit can develop through parthenocarpic means. This is a popular horticulture fig for home gardeners. Dottato (Kadota), Black Mission, Brown Turkey, Brunswick, and Celeste are some representative cultivars.

In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy (literally meaning virgin fruit) is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilization of ovules. The fruit is therefore seedless.

a reply to: Char-Lee

For some reason you and others seem just to want to believe there are no figs without wasp pollination why is that exactly?

You are arguing with yourself to win an imaginary argument..good luck with that. lol

Even figs that don't need pollinating can and do get pollinated by wasps and this makes them better.

Try reading this a few times until you understand it

The wasp can and will caprify a Common fig if it gets near and the fig is receptive.. the poor insect ( a mother ! full of eggs and smeared with pollen) wants nothing but a place to deposit her eggs and maintain her kin, as simple as that. Any caprified Common fig is bigger, sweeter, more flavored and a nicer and better quality fruit.

In years of rich caprifig production (like this 2013 season) farmers were very happy because their Common fig varieties meant for drying would yield an additional 10 to 15% more tonnage.

figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com...