Cultivated since ancient times and even believed to be the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden, the fig occupies a special place in Mediterranean history and tradition.
Recognized for its bulbous shape with a small opening, the ostiole, at its base, the common fig is the edible fruit of the ficus carica—a flowering plant species in the mulberry family.
While figs hold a special place on Sicilian dessert tables, they're rich in potassium and calcium, which benefit bone health. The fruit even provides significant amounts of iron, potassium, and magnesium.
What's not to love? It's no wonder many gardeners choose to grow fig trees.
"It's a plant we've been connected with for a really long time, which is why people become so fascinated by it," says One Green World Nursery Manager Sam Huber. "We share a deep, rich history with it, and it's such a unique plant that comes in many forms. It's exciting to find one that thrives in your area. And it's fairly easy to grow, too."
Oregon-based One Green World sells a variety of so-called Mount Etna Sicilian figs, including the Sangue Dolce and the Natalina. They also sell a fig called the Chicago Hardy, which is originally from Sicily but easily takes root in colder areas in the northern U.S.
Sam and I recently had a chance to chat about all things Sicilian fig-related.
Tell us about One Green World.
The nursery was built on extensive plant exploration and searching the world. With the advent of the internet and the availability of so much information, more varieties and cultivars are available than ever before. We've been continuing in that tradition, looking for new things both here and abroad.
You grow Sicilian figs. Can you share more about your offerings?
The lines of where things developed and whatnot are a little bit blurry, but there's a loose grouping of a certain type of fig, a smaller purple fig with a red interior that just gets called the Mount Etna figs. It's very similar to the ones people have been growing for a long time in Sicily. There, they're grown at 1,000-2,000-foot elevation—so high in elevation that those varieties do well for more northern growers. It's been super cool to see how they thrive in Sicily, of course, but also here.
They're just really wonderful. Everybody likes different things. I really like the dark, jammy figs with the red interior. Sicily also grows a white one that's more of a honey fig. And, of course, there are just wild ones growing everywhere. The fig has just naturalized around much of the Mediterranean and California.
Figs have two crops: the breba crop, which ripens on previous years' wood, and the main crop, which is on new growth. Etna figs have been such a winner for folks in more northern climates because they may have a touch more cold hardiness.
In Oregon, we don't typically get cold enough to have killing frost that would kill off wood on our fig trees. Because they ripen the main crop really early, it's on the new growth. But there's a fig called Chicago Hardy, which is just another Mount Etna type that was found in Chicago and hardy enough to withstand some winters there.
What's unique about them is you can have them get frosted back really hard, or people will do extreme things to overwinter them on places like the East Coast, like cut them back really hard. Some people will even tip them over and bury them, and then the trees still shoot out new growth and produce figs that year. Because the main crop grows all on the new growth, all you need is something that's sending off new growth because they ripen so early and don't need as much heat coming from a higher elevation place. It makes it a good, reliable one for folks who are more on the fringe of where figs would otherwise grow.
What are the ideal conditions for growing Sicilian fig varieties?
The Mount Etna ones, in particular, are adaptable. But if it gets wet in the fall, the fig will just split. Generally, it's a dry summer climate that helps all figs thrive.
It's similar to where we grow grapes in the world. The Mediterranean climate of wet, mild winters and then pretty warm, dry summers concentrates the flavor and prevents the fig from splitting.
The fig isn't actually a fruit; it's this weird inside-out flower. So it's very different when it's ripening. It's very easy for it to split if there's too much water or after it's been dry. When you get a big heavy rainfall, you'll sometimes see that little eye of the fig, the ostiole, split open.
So fig trees generally need a dry climate with enough heat units; you need a good bit of warmth to ripen most varieties. We've been searching for ones that do well in cooler climates, but typically, if you're in California, they can ripen way more than we do in Oregon. It needs a dry summer and a mild winter—not so cold that it kills off the tree. Because below zero, they get pretty damaged.
Which regions are best for growing Sicilian figs?
Oregon's Willamette Valley will probably be one of the best spots outside of California, which is just the ideal fig-growing region in the country.
Most parts of the continent don't have the dry summer that we do. But people grow them on the East Coast; there are many old fig trees on the East Coast because people brought them when they were emigrating. That's encouraged growers there to continue finding hardy varieties.
It's a classic story: People who sneaked a fig tree in with them. And so that's why you have all these various trees of unknown origin that were planted by immigrants way back in the day and are still surviving. Then, people go and clone those that proved themselves in harsher climates.
What are some ways to enjoy figs?
Certainly, fresh eating is one of the best ways because it's one of the more fragile perishable fruits when they're perfectly ripe. But once your tree's really cranking, there are more figs than you can just eat fresh.
Aside from fresh eating, people make jams with them and make dried figs. Drying figs is one the best ways to preserve them so that you have those carbohydrates and sugars for wintertime.
People get creative, doing just all sorts of weird things. There is a brewery in Texas called Jester King, where they could not get enough figs. They used them to make fermented beers with all these different fruits thrown in.
The possibilities are somewhat endless. People make concentrates and different syrups from them, but I feel like jams and dehydration for dried figs are probably the most common.
What do you want people to take away when they buy a One Green World fig tree?
Above all, we just want people to be successful in their gardening. Planting a tree is a pretty big commitment. They're not super cheap, and you have to dedicate water and energy to keeping them alive.
During the COVID pandemic, when all these people started getting into gardening, people would come to us having never grown any trees before. And they'd always want to grow peaches, nectarines, and apricots, some of the most delicious, tasty fruits you can grow. But those, in particular, do poorly here. And so we would always say, "Why don't you try growing a fig, a persimmon, a grape, or something that's just a little easier and better adapted for our part of the world?" I feel like we're often telling folks just to learn to love the things that really want to grow well here.
Aside from just really wanting people to succeed with their gardens and grow something that they're going to find success with and be really happy with in terms of it being reliable, easy, and delicious, there are so many stories attached to all these things, as there have always been with plants. It's just a cool way to preserve stories, whether they are more recent or older ones. And for us, too, it's like a botanical journal. When we're on these trips and collecting things or doing road trips around California, they really encapsulate a time period for us.
Fig trees have deep origin stories; maybe that was the tree from the Garden of Eden. We've been intertwined with this plant for a really long time.
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