The childhood snack "shredded figs" has nothing to do with figs?

I believe that for those born in the 1980s, the lack of snacks is our collective memory. In that era, fried chicken, cola, chocolate, and ice cream were hard to find, let alone new things like cheese sticks. Sour plum powder and fig shreds were basically the most popular snacks at the school gate.

Many people's "childhood memories" of fig shreds are actually made of radish or raw papaya.

Many years later, I learned that the sweet and sour fig shreds have nothing to do with figs, and they don’t even taste like figs. They are made of shredded radish and green papaya . Sweeteners and spices are added to the shredded radish and papaya, and after pickling, they become the "shredded figs" we eat.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to eat figs when I was very young, because my grandmother had a fig tree. Every summer, the tree would bear a lot of figs. However, these figs would not ripen all at once, but ripen every now and then. So my grandmother would always peel the ripe figs and put them in a small bowl for me to eat. They were the most delicious figs I have ever eaten.

Figs ripening on the tree | Pixabay

Not all figs are called figs

The "fig (Ficus carica)" mentioned in this article refers to the figs that are cultivated specifically for eating, which is a fig in the strict sense . This plant is native to the Middle East and West Asia. Its English name is common fig, which means ordinary fig . Then the question is, are there "uncommon" figs?

Of course there is. The reproductive organs of all Ficus plants in the Moraceae family can actually be called "figs" or "ficus fruit". They are not actually fruits, but "hidden inflorescences" unique to Ficus plants . From the appearance of the hidden inflorescence alone, we can't see any bright petals, each one is a small ball, and the small flowers of the fig are hidden in these small balls . The reason why figs are called figs is because we can't see the flowers.

Scientific illustration showing the florets inside the sycamore inflorescence and the internal structure of a cut sycamore inflorescence | Wikimedia Commons

In Xinjiang, China, figs have another name - sugar buns. This description is really vivid. Firstly, figs are very sweet and the sugar content of dried figs can exceed 20%; secondly, the figs we eat actually have a reproductive structure that looks like a bun.

If we break open a fresh "fig" (especially a fig that is not fully ripe), we will find that it is hollow inside. At the bottom of the cavity , you may find many small white balls, which are the female flowers of the fig. And if you are lucky enough, you may see filaments with powder near the top, which are the stamens of the male flowers . Why do we emphasize "lucky enough"? Because the stamens release pollen for a very short time, only about a week.

Figs look a bit "heavy" after being cut | Pixabay

Figs are dioecious plants. In a syringa, there are either only female flowers that can bear fruit, or only male flowers and special female flowers that have lost their reproductive ability . These female flowers are called "galls". Although they cannot bear fruit, they also have special tasks to accomplish, which we will talk about later.

We have always regarded the sweet part of the fig as the "pulp", but in fact it is a structure called "inflorescence receptacle" or "infructescence receptacle", and the sesame-like "seeds" inside the fig are not seeds, but the real fruit of the fig .

Well, since the flowers are wrapped in the "buns" (figs), who spreads the pollen of such flowers?

Small flowers inside the Ficus sylvestris inflorescence | Internet Archive Book Images / Flickr

Additional "meat dishes" in figs

Most plants open their flowers to spread pollen, but figs do the opposite, wrapping all the small flowers in the inflorescence . Although this can protect the flowers from the sun and rain, the wind cannot blow away the pollen, and bees and butterflies cannot stick to the pollen. So how do figs send pollen to where it should go?

There is a small hole on the top of the fig, which is a passage for some insects of the superfamily Chalcidoid, collectively known as fig wasps, which are the heroes of fig pollination. The interactive relationship between the fig tree and the fig wasp is the most amazing co-evolutionary relationship in nature .

Fig wasp exploring the top of a fig fruit on a F. brotryocarpa plant | Mark Moffett / Minden Pictures

Fig wasps drill into the inflorescence not for food, drink and fun, but to find a nest for their babies where they don't have to worry about food and shelter. If this is an inflorescence with male flowers and gall flowers , after drilling in, the fig wasp mother will lay eggs in the gall flowers . Bee eggs can only be laid between the nucellus and the integument of the ovary of the female flower. If there is any deviation, the larvae cannot grow up smoothly. Therefore, fig wasps have an ovipositor as thin as a silk thread. After being inserted from the top of the stigma, it passes through the style to reach the appropriate egg-laying position. Since the flowers of different Ficus plants vary in size, the distance from the stigma to the nucellus is also different, so different fig wasps can only lay eggs successfully when they enter specific types of figs .

After the eggs are laid, the new generation of wasp larvae begin to develop slowly, feeding on the juice in the gall flowers. They have to go through a development period of at least 3 months in the inflorescence. The first to emerge are male fig wasps. The impatient male fig wasps will use their mating organs to pierce the skin of the female flower where the female wasp is, and then mate with the female wasp inside . After completing this strange marriage, the "groom" will help the "bride" bite open the skin of the female flower and let them out.

A cut sycamore showing the florets and fig wasps | Barbara van Amelsfort / Wikimedia Commons

This is the time when male flowers release pollen , which falls on female fig wasps . They leave the capitulum through the small holes at the top of the fig to find new capitulums and reproduce their offspring.

It seems that the fig plants are providing childcare services to the bees in vain, and they are also losing a lot of future seeds. In fact, this is not the case. If the "expectant mother" enters a syringa with only female flowers, it and its next generation will have to die inside because there are no gall flowers to lay eggs. However, it also brings a "gift" to the fig - pollen. When the fig wasp crawls back and forth looking for a place to lay eggs, it sends the pollen on its body to the stigma of the female flowers , allowing these female flowers to bear fruit . Later, the syringa grows and becomes sweet, turning into the "figs" we eat, to attract animals to eat and spread seeds.

These small particles are the real "fig" fruit | Thomas Bresson / Wikimedia Commons

So, do all the figs we eat come with dead fig wasps as a "side dish"? No, many artificially cultivated figs only have female inflorescences, which can grow edible "sugar buns" even without pollination .

When picking figs, be careful of "blackening"

As living standards improve, people are no longer satisfied with eating ready-made fruits, but also want to "play" with fruits. The most fun thing is to pick them. However, when picking figs, you should be careful not to touch the milky white juice flowing from the broken stems and leaves. In the white juice of figs, there is a type of substance called "furan coumarins". Contact with them may cause severe photosensitive dermatitis.

After the fig buds were pinched off, white "milk" flowed out | All About Figs / Flickr

We still lack a detailed understanding of the "murder process" of furanocoumarins. It is generally believed that these chemicals can absorb ultraviolet rays with a wavelength of 320 to 380 nanometers. After obtaining the energy of ultraviolet rays, furanocoumarins are like bombs, wreaking havoc in cells. In the absence of oxygen, they can bind to DNA and hinder normal replication and transcription; when there is insufficient oxygen, they will damage the cell membrane and cause cell death . In this process, melanin deposition will also be triggered, causing rashes, blisters, and darkening of the skin.

Figs are delicious, but you should be careful when picking them | Pixabay

Not only figs, but many plants contain furanocoumarins, which can cause photosensitive dermatitis if touched or eaten. The severity of the symptoms is also affected by many factors such as physical condition, light exposure time, and the type of plant contacted. However, there is no need to be too afraid. As long as you control the intake of vegetables and block ultraviolet rays appropriately (such as using sunscreen), you can pull out the "fuse" of the "bomb". Moreover, there is no evidence that eating figs can cause photosensitive dermatitis . So feel free to eat it.

Author: Shi Jun

Cover image source: Pixabay

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)