Fig: Rare and ancient heavenly fruit
Wang Henian
There is a popular legend in the Bible that Adam and Eve became the ancestors of mankind by stealing forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. According to theologians, the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve stole was a fig; and the beautiful and wide leaves of the fig naturally became the first costume of mankind described in the Bible. This is also the reason why figs are also known as human fruits, celestial fruits, divine fruits, sacred fruits and pinxian fruits. To this day, the Uyghurs still call figs "holy fruits".
Figs are mulberry woody plants, the world's oldest rare fruit tree, and one of the first four ancient fruits domesticated by humans.
There are many ancient names for figs. The Book of Southern Qi calls it Youtan Bowl; the "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks" also says that it has the names of Ah Qi, Ah Qi, and Di Zhen; the "Book of Tired Travel" also calls it a wooden steamed bun and initially calls it a fig; the Ming Kuang Fan "Convenient People's TuLuo" is called Ying Ri Guo; the "Qunfang Spectrum" is called a honey fruit; the Ming Ren Lan Mao's "Yunnan Bencao" is also called a natural child; Qing Liu Shanshu's "Grass and Wood Benfang" also calls it a composition immortal fruit.
In the minds of the ancients, it was a magical fruit. Because its small flowers are hidden in the sac-shaped flower holder, as soon as they bloom, and the flowers are very small and not easy to see, the ancients thought that they were not flowering and real, or born naturally, or reflected in the sun, so there are figs, natural children, ying sun fruits, hidden flowers and fruits. The fruit contains white pulp, the taste is delicious, because it is also known as honey fruit and milk berry. The ancients also thought that it should be a product of the gods and immortals, so it also had the names of Wenxian Fruit and Pinxian Fruit. In addition, there are common names such as tree sweet potato and Mingmu fruit, and the Uyghurs call it Angel and sugar buns.
Figs are deciduous shrubs or trees of the genus Ficus spp., reaching a height of more than 10 meters. The dry skin is grayish brown, the twigs are thick, the single leaves are alternate, broadly ovate or nearly spherical, the leaves are larger, and the leaves are 3 to 5 lobes; hermaphroditic flowers, the flowers are hidden in the sac-like flower holder. The aggregate fruit (cryptophyllum) is pear-shaped, black and purple when ripe, and the fruit is about 2 cm long. The flowering period is from April to May, and it can bear fruit from mid-June to October. Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" has such an introduction: "Figs are deciduous sub-trees, wu, Chu, Fujian, and Guangdong. The leaves are large and rough, three-lobed or five-lobed, the flowers are unisexual, pale red, and they are fleshy fruits, and the external inverted oocysts are flower holders, and the flowers are mostly hidden in them. The part that we eat is the flower tray. When ripe, it is purple and soft, sweet as persimmon, seedless, and has the ingredient of digestive protein, which can help digestion. ”
The fig fruit is thin and seedless, the flesh is soft, sweet and delicious, and rich in nutrients, which is one of the best fruits that people like to eat. It contains 18 kinds of amino acids, a variety of vitamins and iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus and other essential trace elements, is the ideal food for the elderly, children, pregnant women and patients.
Figs are not only gourmet, but their fruits also have a variety of medicinal properties. "Yunnan Materia Medica" says that the use of fig oil can be used to "apply all the nameless swelling and poison"; Wang Ying's "Food Materia Medica" says that it has the function of "appetizing and stopping diarrhea"; the "Compendium of Materia Medica" believes that it is an effective medicine for "treating five hemorrhoids and sore throat"; the "Medical Forest Compendium" and "Diet Recipes for Living with Breath" regard it as "beneficial to the lungs, through the milk" and "clearing the heat and moisturizing the intestines" respectively.
For the benefits of figs, the "Qunfang Spectrum" is summarized as seven points: "Edible and edible, eating more does not hurt people, and is beneficial, especially for the elderly and children, one also; dry and dried persimmons are no different, can be solid, two also; June to take the second ripe, until the frost falls, there are often good food in March, no more than its fruit for a while to pick up all, three also; planting trees for ten years to take effect, mulberry peach is the fastest, also four or five years, this fruit cuts large branches cuttings, this year fruit, the following year into a tree, four also; the leaves are medical hemorrhoids to win medicine, five also; after frost fall, the immature people can be picked, can be made of molasses fried fruit, six also ;The soil is to live, to be planted anywhere, to be widely planted, or to be fresh or dry, and to be hungry, in case of apologies, seven also. ”
The latest archaeological results confirm that the history of human cultivation of figs has reached 10,000 years. Native to the Mediterranean coast of Europe and Central Asia, it was introduced to China around the Tang Dynasty and has a cultivation history of about 1300 years.
The Chinese people's understanding of figs first began in Buddhist texts. The Southern Qi Shu Jingling Wenxuan Prince Liang Biography records such a strange story with obvious Buddhist overtones: "Zi Liang qi entered the sand gate and recited the sutra in front of the temple, and the ancestors were touched and dreamed of Youtan Baohua. The "Youtan Bowl" in the text is the earliest name for figs in China. Buddhism believes that the blossoming of the Utsuma Bowl is the Buddha's Ruiying, because it is regarded as the flower of auspicious rui.
However, it was not until the Tang Dynasty that figs were cultivated in China. Duan Chengshi left such a record in the book "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks": "The Persian kingdom is called Ayi, and The Forest is called Dizhen (a work "name"). The tree is four or five feet long and has lush foliage. The leaves have five leaves, like eucalyptus, no flowers but fruit. It is red in color, like a catalpa, and tastes like a sweet persimmon, and it is ripe in January (a "year"). ”
The name fig first appears in Song Zhang Shizheng's (who died around 1060) in the "Miscellaneous Records of Weary Travels": "Wooden steamed buns, also known as jingshi, are called figs." Small pear-like, hollow. It is cooked, the color is slightly red, the taste is quite sweet and sour, and the food is a big miasma. Lingnan is particularly many, the state and county hospitality, more for the tea bed high food, so the cloud: 'Gong feast more than the wood steamed buns. It can be seen that there were many cultivations in Lingnan at that time, and its fruits also became the pawns of the local government to entertain vips from other counties.
Song Zhou's "Lingwai Dai Answer" also records two different kinds of figs: "Wooden steamed buns, among the branches and leaves of the vines in Zhongzhou, can be used as medicine; in Nanzhou, it is woody, not born in the branches and leaves, but is born in itself, which can be a fruit." The two things are similar in shape, but the flesh of the vine is thin and multi-seeded, and it falls before it is ripe; the flesh of the wood is thick and has honey, and when it is red, it is also quite delicious. Deep and wide is rare and good fruit. Public feasts are often used in preparation. That is to say, the figs planted in Henan are vine-like, because the flesh is thin and multi-seeded, generally used as a medicine; and the woody plants produced in the southern region are woody plants, because the meat is thick and sweet, and naturally become a good fruit commonly used in public feasts.
At that time, the Guangdong region was also an important fig producing area. When the Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Mu's "Fang Yu Sheng Lan" mentions the "native products" of Xinzhou on Guangdong Road, there is an account of "there are flowers known as youtan bowls, with (should be "like") pipa, no flowers but real".
In the Ming Dynasty, the cultivation of figs became more common. Ming Zhu's "Saving the Wilderness Materia Medica" lists this kind of wild, home-grown fruit as one of the fruits of the rescue: "Figs, born in the mountains and wild, are also planted in the gardens of the people's homes." The leaves are shaped like grape leaves, quite long and hard and thick, slightly trident, and bear fruit between the branches and leaves. At first, it is small and green, ripe and large, shaped like a plum, and the color is like purple eggplant. Sweet taste. ”
The situation described in the Compendium of Materia Medica is particularly striking: "Figs came out of Yangzhou and Yunnan, and now Wu, Chu, Min, and Yue people's homes, or folded branches." The branches are like loquat trees, and the leaves in March are like flower-shaped leaves. In May, it does not flower but is solid, and it is solid between the branches, shaped like a wooden steamed bun, and its inside is soft. Picked with salt, compacted flattened, dried day, and filled with fruit. Ripe is purple, soft and sweet like persimmon and seedless. "From the perspective of eating methods, there are mainly two kinds: one is to use salt and then dry for later use, that is, to process it into preserves; the other is to eat it directly.
In the long-term planting practice, Xinjiang fruit farmers have also accumulated a lot of planting experience. There is this passage in the "Chronicle of Huijiang" written by the Qing Dynasty: "The winter moon lies on the ground and is covered with soil. During the Qingming Dynasty, go to the soil to support the cultivation of seeds, sprouts, branches do not flower, and the fruit is between the branches and forks. ...... The taste of food is sweet and fragrant, and the local name is Called Erji. ”
At present, in addition to the northeast, Tibet and Qingdao, there are figs distributed in other provinces (regions) of China. The main distribution areas are Xinjiang, Yunnan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangxi and other places. The hometown of figs, Xinjiang Artush, is known as the "hometown of figs".
The consumption of figs has also made breakthrough progress on the basis of predecessors: in addition to raw food, people often process them into preserves, jams, juices, fruit teas, fruit wine, drinks, canned food and so on. Southerners in China also stew figs as vegetables and pork, beef and mutton, or cooked together with ham, mushrooms and figs, such as fig stewed lamb, fig stewed pork tendon, fig stewed pork intestine, etc., is a popular fig dish. As for fig pie, fig red date hawthorn tea, salted figs, etc., they are favored by gourmets for their obvious modern colors.
References (abbreviated)
"Our Ancestors' Melon Orchard" (serial)
Copyright works: 鄂作登字-2017-A-00016844