Who actually picked those sweet figs?

About the author: One Hand Brush One Hand Flower: Landscape architecture major, has deeply loved plants and nature since childhood, hopes to always work in plant-related fields, in this world only beautiful flowers and delicious food are not to be let down, Weibo @One Hand Brush One Hand Flower

The sweet figs are ripe.

Some fruits seem to be born with no connection to the word sour, such as bananas, such as jackfruit, such as figs; some fruits are strongly seasonal and hard to find out of season, such as wampee, such as lychee, such as figs.

In the old days, many large courtyards of old houses liked to plant a few fig trees. When I was little, I felt the whole fig plant carried a faint fragrance, that fresh slightly sweet scent unique to it, and every time I walked past a fig tree, I liked to stop and sniff that light aroma.

When it started to bear fruit, I would count them one by one, gazing eagerly every day, hoping those green fruits would grow quickly. Watching them swell day by day, take on a trace of faint red, the blush spreading wider and wider, then adding purple... I was not the only one thinking about those figs. Unfortunately, in the end, who knew whose belly the fully ripe fruits went into.

In the newly built residential compounds now, figs are rarely planted anymore. I heard from my mother that there is a small alley called Fig Alley, which used to be full of figs, but now, there is not a single one left.

Fig Orchard

Figs do not have a high yield, and they do not store or transport well, so in recent years the figs sold in the markets here have become more and more expensive, about fifteen yuan per jin, and you cannot even be sure to find them for sale. Fortunately, I found a fig orchard, and when the fruits ripened, I began this year's feast.

The fig's branches are unique, liking to spread out as they grow, the bark has a grayish-white color, and the branches have the ring-shaped stipular scars that are an obvious characteristic of the genus Ficus. The alternate leaves are three- to five-lobed, some shaped like a palm, the leaf surface rough to the touch, with small fine hairs on the underside.

The opening of the fig's syconium

The syconium is one of the hallmarks of the genus Ficus in the mulberry family. These plants appear on the surface to have no flowers, but in fact the flowers grow on the inner wall of the fig fruit and are hidden away, secretly blooming with flowers kept in the heart, yet only the fig got the name "flowerless." Sure enough, the tasty ones attract more attention. Some people may wonder, if the flowers are hidden, how does pollination happen? Although it will not let you see the flowers, it does open a hole at its "bottom," leaving a special passage for insects!

The fruits hanging on the branches are green, red, and purple, ripening a little each day, making harvesting rather troublesome. When you pick a fruit, you can see another trait of the genus Ficus, latex, oozing out milk-white, and after picking a basket of figs, your hands are all sticky.

The fruits that are entirely red to purple are the sweetest, while those with a bit of green-yellow can be picked and left for a day or two before eating, and they are still tasty. Break a fruit open, and there is its beautiful flower heart, pink and pink, tempting you to bite right in. Other fruits leave behind a pile of peels and seeds after eating, but the fig goes entirely into your belly, leaving only a mouthful of sweetness and fragrance.

If you cannot get fresh figs, there are also dried figs to satisfy a craving, and they are full of flavor too.

The figs are ripe. Who picked those sweet fruits?

Author: One Hand Brush One Hand Flower

Images: One Hand Brush One Hand Flower

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