Fig Ficus carica A member of the mulberry family with pear-shaped, green, brown or purple fruit, it is a native of Asia Minor, a descendant of the wild caprifig, imported into the Mediterranean region and used by the Egyptians 6,000 years ago. The wild fig is small and dry, and relies on an insect called the ‘fig wasp’ for reproduction and so cultivation began early in prehistory in order to provide a better fruit. Tomb paintings indicate that figs were being cultivated in Egypt by around 1900BC and by 1500BC the crop had spread to Crete. By the time of the Roman Empire new types of fig appeared which did not depend on the fig wasp for fertilisation and this was probably when what we know today as the ‘common fig’ appeared. Pliny (c.AD77) mentioned 29 varieties of fig known to Rome. In Ancient Greece and Rome, figs were a staple food, valued for its high sugar and energy content. The Romans especially considered it a symbol of plenty, leading some classical scholars to interpret the use of the fig leaf on statuary as not being so much a preservation of modesty as perhaps a bawdy in-joke. The Greek fig trade gave us the word sycophant, meaning ‘one who shows the fig’, or someone who has tried to gain favour by informing on fig smugglers, and it is still a very insulting phrase in the Mediterranean countries - ‘showing the fig’ is even worse, being an obscene gesture with the thumb. Ironically, for a fruit which has been so consistently associated with the ‘baser passions’, it was a cleric, Cardinal Pole, who introduced the fig into this country in the early 16th century. A few years later, Cortez introduced the tree to Mexico, from whence it slowly spread northwards, reaching North America by the end of the 18th century. Dr Andrew Boorde, (1490-1549), a doctor and unfrocked suffragan bishop of Chichester, also associated figs with the earthier side of life, stating in his A Dyetary of Helth that they “doth stere a man to veneryous actes, for they doth urge and increase the sede of generacyon. And also they doth prouoke a man to sweate; wherefore they doth engender lyce.” Dr Boorde knew a thing or two about such things - he was imprisoned shortly before his death for keeping three prostitutes in his chambers at Winchester. It is not known if he was sweating at the time. Unani Tibb lists the fig as being a laxative; good for curing constipation. Fresh fig is also recommended, split open, as a poultice. Dried figs, whose nutrients are concentrated around six times those of fresh, are a rich source of potassium and good for calcium, iron and magnesium. The laxative action is provided by the insoluble fibre contained in the fig which helps in moving food through the digestive system. They also contain pectin, soluble fibre, which can help to reduce blood cholesterol levels. On the down side, dried figs are prone to mould contamination which contain potentially cancer-promoting toxins, and lots of sugar; high in calories and bad for the teeth. 100g dried figs, without stones give 209 kcalories of energy, 3.3g protein, 1.5g fat, 48.6g carbohydrate in the form of sugar, 6.9g fibre, 230mg calcium, 3.9mg iron, 57mg sodium, 10µg vitamin A, 0.07mg vitamin B1 and 1mg vitamin C.