By David C. Sutton
Sutton starts off by way of describing the fig’s unusual biologybotanically, it's not a fruit, yet really a cluster of ingrowing flowersthen considers its Arabian origins, together with the prospect that the earliest seeds have been transported from Yemen to Mesopotamia within the dung of donkeys. Exploring the heritage of the fruit in interesting element, Sutton postulates that the forbidden fruit” eaten by means of Adam and Eve was once no longer an apple, yet a fig; and he discusses the function figs performed for the Crusaders and publications readers towards the glorious fig fairs held this day. Chock packed with tasty recipes, fascinating proof, and weird tales, Figs is a toothsome ebook of delights.
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Additional resources for Figs: A Global History
Sample text
Cicero tells a famous story about the importance of puns and omens in Roman political life. As Marcus Crassus was about to depart from Brindisi in 55 BC on a military expedition which would turn out to be a disaster, he was approached by a fig-seller who called out ‘Cauneas’ (figs from Caunea). Cicero says that Crassus should have read the punning omen in the fig-seller’s cry (Cave ne eas, meaning ‘Don’t go’), and that if he had heeded the warning the whole history of Rome would have been different.
Figs are the fruit of temptation, lusciously alluring. Apples are all very well, but not notable enough, surely, to tempt a woman into original sin. And fig trees are more ‘pleasant to the eyes’ than apple trees. ’ Fig leaves from the fruit tree can indeed be sewn with a needle and thread. There is no need to surmise – as Milton proposed in Paradise Lost – that the tree in question was some sort of Indian banyan and ‘not that kind for fruit renowned’. Prepared in a rich sauce of wine or honey, this is the taste of paradise in a bowl.
The fig is also dependent upon particular forms of climate and environment: it is intolerant of frost and even of cold weather; it likes hot weather but not damp heat, although a very slight dampening when the crop is almost formed can be beneficial. Fig trees are superbly resistant to drought. It is sometimes said, especially by Turkish writers, that the ideal climate for the ripening of figs is to be found in the valley of the winding Meander river (Homer’s Skamander, known as Büyük Menderes in modern Turkey – our word ‘meander’ derives from its name).