The Healthy Benefits of Eating Figs
Add Fresh or Dried to the Daily Diet, They're Packed With Nutrients
Mar 25, 2009
Figs grow on the Ficus carica tree, a member of the mulberry family, of which their are over 150 varieties. A fig is a sweet chewy fruit that is delicate and doesn't keep well which is why an enormous percentage of the harvest is dried.
They range in colour from the palest green to the deepest purple and almost black, the most common varieties are:
- Black Mission - a blackish purple skin colour with pink flesh
- Kadota - a green skinned-fruit with purplish flesh
- Calimyrna - a pale greeny yellow skin
- Brown Turkey - a purple skin with red flesh and orange flesh
The fig tree has been harvested and enjoyed by generations and figure in early manuscripts and Bible scriptures. It' s native to the Middle East and Mediterranean areas. The Greek held figs in such high esteem that they brought in laws to stop their finest figs being exported.
Nutritional Content and Fig Facts
- Figs have a high quantity of natural sugar, minerals and fiber.
- FIgs are rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and manganese
- Figs being a good source of fiber help to nourish and tone the intestines
- Figs have a high alkaline content which helps to maintain the PH of the body
- Fig leaves have proved to have antidiabetic properties
How to Select and Store Figs
Figs are highly perishable and should be eaten within a day or two of purchase. Choose firm fruit that aren't too soft and that have a deep colour to their skin, they also smell stronger.
Don't wash the figs until they are going to be eaten. Ripe figs may be kept under cover in the fridge, any unripe fruit should be left to ripen at room temperature.
The whole of the fig can be eaten, skin, flesh and seeds.
Ideas on Adding Figs into the Daily Diet
- Add chopped dried figs in place of or with other dried fruit
- Sprinkle chopped fresh or dried figs on cereal
- Use fig jam or fig puree on toast or in a sandwich
- Add a handful of dried figs to porridge or oatmeal as you prepare it
- Make biscuits or pastry rolls filled with jam or puree
- Slice a fresh fig and sandwich it between biscuits for an instant fig roll
- Poach whole fresh figs in fruit juice or red wine and serve with yoghurt or cream
- Add choppped sliced fresh figs to a salad with jamon and fresh parmesan
- Stuff fresh figs with goats cheese and chopped nuts for a dessert
Fresh from the Tree
Enjoy them straight off the tree
Slice and place under netting to dry for a year round supply. The smaller they are chopped now, the easier they are to use when they are dry.
Watch out for the Fig jam recipe - it's coming soon!
 |
