Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Not all fig varieties require caprification, only the Smyrna group. One botanist determ-
ined that 471 varieties self-pollinate, producing fruit without the aid of the wasp. Not sur-
prisingly, this group includes some of today's most widely grown varieties, such as Black
Mission, Brown Turkey and Kadota.
The United States - or, more specifically, California, since that is where almost all of
the crop is grown - is the second-largest grower of figs in the world, after Turkey. The
vast majority of the harvest winds up being dried, most of it turned into paste that is used
in cookies and other sweets. The very best figs are dried whole. Called "naturals," these
account for a small percentage of the total, as the same wasp that pollinates the figs can
also introduce fungi that cause spoilage during the drying process.
Fresh figs account for only about 9 percent of the California harvest, but they are a luc-
rative crop, bringing in as much as six or seven times the price of dried figs. Fig orchards
bear two crops every year. First, in late spring or early summer, comes a small harvest of
what are called "breba" figs. The second, or main, harvest comes in late summer and early
fall. Because figs are so fragile - they actually make a Hachiya persimmon look hardy -
harvesting them is a painstaking process. Each tree must be harvested carefully by work-
ers wearing gloves and long sleeves, as the ficin that dissolves wasps is also extremely ir-
ritating to human skin. Each fruit has to be clipped from the tree, rather than being plucked
from the branch as most fruits are. And to keep them from being squashed by their own
weight, they are collected in little one-gallon containers rather than the usual big buckets.
Finally, rather than being shipped to a main packing shed to be sorted into boxes, figs are
packed right in the field, on wooden tables set up under tents. They go straight from the
field to a refrigerated warehouse and then to the store. Each tree needs to be picked at least
every other day during the harvest, which can last for several months.
Persimmons
