Figs are good source of flavonoids and polyphenols. Figs and other dried fruit were measured for their antioxidant content. A 40 gram portion of dried figs (two medium size figs) produced significant increase in plasma antioxidant capacity. Figs also have higher quantities of fiber than any other dried or fresh fruit. This plant has featured in many books in which they are believed to have healing powers; whether this extends beyond fiction is debatable.
Due to this, it has also been associated with aphrodisiacs. This erotic, fleshy fruit is said to act as a powerful sexual stimulant. Originally from Syria, it is one of the oldest known plants. Ritual copulation followed the arrival of the new fig crop in Ancient Greece and it is said to have been Cleopatra's favorite fruit. For the ancient Greeks the fig was one of the sacred foods associated with fertility and love. In some Southern European countries wedding guests throw figs (instead of rice) at the newly weds, as a sign of fertility.
Legend has it that eating a fresh fig while naked in front of a woman is one of the world's most erotic acts. Because when its split down the center and cradled by a palm, the fig's pink flesh is said to resemble a woman's sweet unmentionables.
The luscious fruit's womanly wiles were immortalized in the words of one of literature's dirtiest birds, author D. H. Lawrence, who dedicated a poem entitled “Figs” to its sensuality.
Some historians suspect that the fig's original home was the Garden of Eden, and that the fig was the original temptress, the true forbidden fruit.
0 comments :
Post a Comment