Everyone Needs to Try Fresh Figs At Least Once
How a little-known fruit became a symbol of hope and good surprises
I grew up in South East Asia, near the Equator. It was the land of exotic fruits. Papayas, mangoes, mangosteen, pineapples — these were the staples of my everyday life.
Except, I didn’t think of them as exotic. They were just… fruits.
They were the “normal” thing to eat when I came home from school or to munch on for dessert after dinner. Exotic didn’t mean tropical fruits. Exotic meant the stuff on the labels of St. Dalfour jams: cherries, blueberries, raspberries, and peaches. The fruits from the countries that had winter snow and colorful autumn seasons — now that was fancy.
When I became old enough to travel, I would finally eat those “exotic” fruits in the flesh, sometimes picking them in orchards. They were enjoyable — especially those ripe Australian cherries when they had just been twisted off the stems. Ahh… perfection!
But there is one fruit that I find truly magical. And no, it is not one of the tropical fruits I grew up with. Neither is it one of those fruits grown in temperate climates.
I’m talking about figs.
