Smokva

The fig plant

Ficus carica is a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region and to western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times. Its fragrant leaves are some 20 cm long and 14 cm wide, rough and deeply lobed. Its fruit is teardrop-shaped and has sweet soft reddish flesh containing numerous small seeds. The fruit develops as a hollow, fleshy structure called the syconium, which is lined with numerous unisexual flowers. The tree has milky sap, produced by laticifer cells.

The name

The word fig was first recorded in English in the 13th century and derives from Old French figue, itself from Occitan figa.

Cultivation and production

The edible fig is probably the first plant to have been cultivated by humans. Nine subfossil figs of a sterile, parthenocarpic type, dated to about 9400-9200 BC, were found in the early Neolithic village of Gilgal I in the Jordan Valley. In 2024 world production of raw figs was 1.34 million tonnes, led by Turkey with 28% of the total. Turkey, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco together account for 61% of world production. Raw figs contain roughly 80% water and 20% carbohydrates. Ripe fresh figs are easily damaged in transport and do not keep well, so most commercial production is in dried and processed forms.

Pollination

Ripe figs are not full of dead wasps, and the crunchy bits in the fruit are only seeds. The fig produces an enzyme called ficain, which digests the dead wasps. Several commercial and ornamental varieties are parthenocarpic and bear sterile fruit without pollination.

Fig leaf absolute

Leaves of Ficus carica have been reported to contain coumarins or furocoumarins, including psoralen and bergapten. The essential oil of fig leaves contains more than 10% psoralen, the highest concentration of any organic compound isolated from fig leaves. Furanocoumarins cause phytophotodermatitis in humans, and the common fig contains significant quantities of two of them, psoralen and bergapten. Contact with the milky sap of Ficus carica followed by exposure to ultraviolet light can cause phytophotodermatitis, a potentially serious skin inflammation.

Stemone and gamma-octalactone

Stemone is the oxime of 5-methyl-3-heptanone and has the formula C₈H₁₇NO. Stemone is a top-note material with high volatility. It is stable in alcoholic solutions and most cosmetic bases. Gamma-octalactone, C₈H₁₄O₂, is a lactone with the preferred IUPAC name 5-butyloxolan-2-one. It is a component of urban aerosols as well as some liquors.

Volatiles of the fruit

Headspace analysis of the fig cultivars studied identified 68 volatile compounds, among them 20 aldehydes and 4 terpene compounds. Benzaldehyde accounted for a mean of 7.13% of the total area and was the most abundant aldehyde found. The main linear aldehydes were (E)-2-hexenal, nonanal and hexanal, which are characterised by green leaf notes. The monoterpenes α-pinene, limonene and linalool, around 1% of the total area, are among the most frequent groups of aroma compounds identified in figs.

Fruit chemistry

Figs contain polyphenols such as gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, (+)-catechin, (-)-epicatechin and rutin. The color of the fruit varies between cultivars with the concentration of anthocyanins, and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside is particularly abundant. Ethyl acetate, hexanal, β-caryophyllene, limonene, (E)-2-hexenal and octanal are attributed mainly to the aroma of fresh figs. In one cultivar, (E)-2-methylbut-2-enal contributes strong green fruit notes, and ethyl 2-methylbutanoate and ethyl hexanoate contribute to the fruity aroma.

Dried figs

Of the factors studied, drying had the greatest effect on fig volatiles.