History of fig in United States

Hildegard of Bingen who founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150, freely prescribes figs for the infirm, but restricts their consumption by the healthy.

In 9 BC, figs were believed to be brought to Ancient Greece from Egypt - but their growth quickly spread across the land. It reached as far north as England in the early 1500s, when it was already reported as being cultivated in China.

Spanish Franciscan missionaries brought the fig to southern California in 1520, leading to the variety known as the Mission fig.

The first figs in the New World were planted in Mexico in 1560. Captain John Smith noted its existence in Virginia by 1621, the cultivar having been transplanted from Bermuda.

Figs were introduced into California when the San Diego Mission was established in 1769. Later, many special varieties were received from Europe and the eastern United States where the fig reached Virginia in 1669.

Nowadays the fig is an important crop for many regions with sub-tropical and tropical climates. In temperate zones production is limited and usually the fruit is consumed fresh locally or in dried, canned and preserved form.
History of fig in United States

Fruit of fig in ancient history

The fig tree, which is closely related to the sycamore, is one of the humanity’s oldest cultivated plants dating back archeologically to Jericho (c. 7000 BC).

According to the Jewish Talmud, figs were the first nourishment of human beings, and they were equally important to the ‘idol worshippers’ in neighboring Egypt. Wine and figs had a significant interrelated ritual significance.

Fig was dedicated to Bacchus and employed in religious ceremonies. In the Olympic Games, winning athletes were crowned with fig wreaths and given figs to eat.

As early as the fourth century B.C., Theophrastus reported that most good fruits, including the fig, had received names. Ulysses, the hero of the Odyssey, obtained from his father twenty fig trees, all with names.

Ovid, the Roman poet, states that figs were offered as presents in the Roman celebration of the new year.

Flavius Josephus named the fig the ‘king of all fruit’ and it was considered the ‘sister of the grapevine’ (Hipponax). In ancient Greece, the fig was considered a gift from earth mother, Demeter.

Pliny the Elder in his Natural History extolled "One hundred and eleven observations" on the fig. Among them, "This fruit invigorates the young, and improves the health of the aged and retards the formation of wrinkles," and “Mixed with axle-grease it (fig milk) removes warts."

Pliny listed names of figs and gave the color of mature fruits, but did not describe varieties in detail.
Fruit of fig in ancient history

History of fig in ancient Egypt

Fruit farming started around 6000 BC with crops such as figs, plums and grapes in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Two species of fig were known to the ancient Egyptians, the sycomore fig (Ficus sycomorus) and the common fig (Ficus carica).

Sycomore fig trees were personified as goddesses in Egyptian art, and were perceived as dispensers of nourishment. The tree goddess is often shown in paintings and reliefs as a small figure crouched in the top of a tree or as a standing figure from whose head grows a small sycomore tree.

In ancient Egypt the sycomore fig was highly value for its fruit or syconia. Fig also can be fermented in to a fig wine. The species was widely use in Pharaonic medicine and is still use in folk medicine.

At that time, a special tool was used for the purpose of gashing sycomore fruits. Theophrastus (372-287 BC) witnessed this practice and correctly notes that after gashing.

The sycamore fig is referred to frequently in ancient Egyptian texts, thus in the Eighteenth Dynasty and in 251 BC sycamore wood to be used for building a boat is mentioned, and in the Twentieth Dynasty statues of the wood and sycamore gardens are also mentioned.
History of fig in ancient Egypt

History of fig

According to the Old Testament, Hezekiah who lived 600 years before Christ used figs as a tropical application to a boil.

Common figs or ficus carica is one of the first plants cultivated by man, chiefly for it edible fruit which is either eaten raw, dried or made into jams.  It has been cultivated since pre-historic times and was domesticated at least 11,000 years ago in the Middle East.

The figs seems to have been used as  food in great antiquity in the eastern Mediterranean or southwest Asia, for pips resembling those of Ficus carica were found at certain Neolithic sites in the eastern Mediterranean, the earliest dating to 7000 BC or before.

The remnants of fig have been found and there are clear evidence of cultivation in Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt in the third millennium BC. In ancient Egypt, the fig was among the most frequently represented fruit in tombs. It was also cultivated in ancient Greece.

The wood is said to be indestructible, and is therefore used for Egyptian mummy cases which have been found in a sound state after the lapse of 3000 year.

The figs have been brought into cultivation in the southern Arabian Peninsula by 3000 BC.

The Spanish brought domesticated figs to America in the 16th century and later English colonists found figs growing along the southeastern coasts of North America.

In colonial times, New Englanders imported figs from the Southern Colonies and the Caribbean.
History of fig