Fig: a hollow, round structure that holds the flowers of a fig tree and which is later filled with the sweet and seedy fig fruit.
Pollinate: moving pollen from the male to the female component of a flower as part of the fertilization process in plants. Birds and insects often move pollen from flower to flower when gathering nectar and they are therefore called pollinators...more
Figs Without Wasps?
Most commercial figs, like the ones you buy at the store, are grown without wasps.
While wasp bodies may add some crunch to a tasty fig, you probably won’t find a wasp inside a fig you are about to eat, even if you look really hard.
Some types of fig that are grown for human consumption have figs that ripen without pollination. It is also possible to trick plants into ripening figs without wasps by spraying them with plant hormones.
Even when figs are grown the old-fashioned way, with wasps, the wasp is long gone by the time the fig crosses your lips. Figs produce a chemical called “ficin” that breaks down the wasp bodies. Ficin is so effective at breaking down, or digesting, animal proteins that natives of Central America eat fig sap to treat intestinal worm infections.
So, no, those fig-filled cookies you bought at the store are not full of dead wasps. But don’t despair. If you’re really interested in eating insects, Ask-A-Biologist has some great suggestions.
Read more about: Fig Wasps
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Dani Moore. (2012, October 11). Figs Without Wasps?. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved June 12, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/figs-without-wasps American Psychological Association. For more info, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/ Dani Moore. "Figs Without Wasps?". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 11 October, 2012. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/figs-without-wasps For more info, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/04/ Dani Moore. "Figs Without Wasps?". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 11 Oct 2012. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 12 Jun 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/figs-without-wasps Modern Language Association, 7th Ed. For more info, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/Bibliographic details:
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Figs are so common that people even make art that features figs. This painting by Luis Meléndez is called Still Life with Figs and Bread.
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