The shocking (and stomach-churning) secret inside EVERY fig

a reply to: tadaman

Ahh..but what if you like some insects? Chocolate covered ants? Vanilla fudge crickets? Anyone?

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I believe that a prune is a dried plum.

ETA: Yep, I was right. It's a plum. Kind of like a raisin. But a plum instead of a grape.

Prune

I'd still eat them. What's a little extra protein?

a reply to: Ironhawke

I like meal worms and crickets. There's a company called hotlix that sells them.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: Ironhawke

I like meal worms and crickets. There's a company called hotlix that sells them.

I need this. I mean, I seriously need this.... /drool

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Hmm, reminds me of eating figs off a bush as a kiddo and thinking about how the textures differed time to time.

If you really want to be grossed out, go visit a cream cheese factory.

You'll never want to eat it again

Figgy wasp pudding, mmmm.

Only Capri figs in domestic cultivation need pollination from wasps.Most other varieties do not:


www.crfg.org...

a reply to: Lysergic

what? Cream cheese? No.......no...

We had a huge fig tree growing up here in California, our tree had a bunch of ants but I'd imagine there's a specific type of wasp that pollinates figs, we never had wasps around our tree, although our wasps loved the pomegranate tree and our strawberry bushes.

a reply to: Ironhawke

Here's their site. Enjoy!

Hotlix

a reply to: PhoenixOD

I thought people knew this? Maybe in the US people don't, because figs aren't very popular here. But yeah, commercial farmers even deliberately "pollinate" their fig crops with those wasps, to increase production.

I'm a vegetarian & I still eat fig newtons. The wasps are completely dissolved into the plant, so it's really no different than any other fertilizer. Otherwise vegetarians couldn't eat anything, because of the bacteria, microbes, and other insects that die in the fertilizers.

Take compost for instance. Bacteria & microbes break the compost down in a microscopic orgy until they create enough heat to kill themselves off. Then it's safe for use as fertilizer.

originally posted by: nemonimity
We had a huge fig tree growing up here in California, our tree had a bunch of ants but I'd imagine there's a specific type of wasp that pollinates figs, we never had wasps around our tree, although our wasps loved the pomegranate tree and our strawberry bushes.

Ants are just wasps without wings. They are related.

So that's what their purpose is. After getting hammer jacked the past 3 years and sent into a fit of rage after all of wasp kind, I guess this answers my question. I would always try not to kill insects or other creatures but after they showed no mercy on me one summer I declared war on wasps and anytime we get too close it's me or them.

I thought they were here just to torment us and bring us pain and sickness. And I love figs too, hmm..weird.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Yep. And to add to the confusion, there's:
1. The Velvet "Ant" (aka The Cow Killer), which is really a wingless wasp.
2. The Bullet Ant, which is the size of a typical "wasp" and has the most painful sting known to humans.
3. Flying Ants, which are just "ants" with wings lol

I think the confusion is because early scientists classified ants & wasps as separate species. But I think more modern classifications have them as closely related or as the same. So it may just be a matter of which books a person reads (though I'm not an expert so don't quote me on it).

I like figs and this is pretty disturbing. I guess there's no sense in quitting now. I think I'll run down to the Dollar general and grab up a couple dollar packages of them. Most folks want near 4 bucks for them.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

34 million years and a wasp still hasnt seen its mother enter into this flower, fail to exit, and warn the others?

We have a variety next door and the figs are the size of golfballs but they are tasteless, the smaller ones here are sweet and good picked at the right time.

I thought this was common knowledge.

Some bugs are pretty ok. I think my favorite snack bug is ants. Some are peppery, some are tart, depends on the pile.

I like figs. I'm a vegan and I'll still continue to eat them. No big deal.

a reply to: ImaFungi

I put forward the idea that all they think about is...reproduce, kill human, stay warm, reproduce, kill human, stay warm, reproduce, kill human "would be nice to torment human as well," stay warm......

lol