Figs!

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

What I meant was that I don't know how the locals use them. That, I will try to find out.

Yes, you have me curious now about how they are used by the locals. 

[liuzhou]

While we wait  to find out how Chinese people use figs, an interesting / amusing aside.

 

The Chinese name for figs is 无花果 (wú huā guǒ) which literally means 'no flower fruit'; something of a misnomer. In fact, figs are more likely to be no fruit flowers. The first 'fruit' of figs and the one most eaten is, in fact, tiny flowers encased in a shell.  Only the second 'fruiting' bears true fruit, but many figs never get that far.

Not many people know dat!

[dcarch]

11 hours ago, haresfur said:

 

Fresh figs are very delicate and don't stay ripe for long so they are probably best for small local vendors. Dried figs still taste ok and are good for cooking. A vendor at my farmers market sells nice caramelised figs which are a happy medium.

 

As far as I know, there is no machine to harvest figs. It is not easy to harvest by hand either.

The other problem is figs do not all ripen at the same time.

 

dcarch

[liuzhou]

Well, I have finished my exhaustive study into the uses my friends and neighbours put dried figs to and can report.

 

I’m reliably informed that the vast majority are simply rehydrated and eaten as a table fruit. However some are made into a sort of tisane or fruit ‘tea’. However the suggestion I got most, apart from just eating the thing was to make a 煲汤 (bāo tāng).

 

煲汤 (bāo tāng) is the Mandarin verb ‘to simmer’ but is also used as a noun to describe a type of restorative soup given to invalids or hypochondriacs. As the name suggests it is a long simmered soup, usually rather simple, consisting of a bone stock (pork or chicken) with a few added ingredients matched to the ailment in traditional Chinese medicine. Most of these symptoms are stunningly vague, so pretty much anything goes, including dried figs.

 

I have no intention of simmering bones for hours and throwing in some figs, just for your amusement, so here’s a picture of a totally different 煲汤 (bāo tāng). This one is a pork bone stock (the bones have been simmered so long they are crumbling away). In the stock is 海带 (hǎi dài) - Kelp – the seaweed. No doubt as a cure for drowning. There was also some ginger and a few yellow soy beans.

 

 

No one was willing to give an opinion on what the figs might be good for.

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by liuzhou (log)