Fig Alfajores by Split Bean Coffee
Split Bean Coffee's Fig Alfajores are a made with imported fig preserve from the Middle East, where figs have flourished for thousands of years. It is our homage to the original alfajores created by the Al-Andalus culture of present day Andalucia, Spain. As you know, the true alfajor is original of to the Andalucia Region of Spain from where it traveled to the Americas aboard the Spanish Galleons of the Spanish Golden Age. As time passed each region of Latin America adapted these delicious sweets to the ingredients and preferences of the emerging local populations.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF FIGS
As early as 2900 BC, in early Sumerian times, the medicinal use of figs was being stressed. Now as before, the fig offers a power-house of nutrition; a combination of fiber, minerals, and nutrients that are unequaled in nature.
California dried figs make satisfying snacks and sweet and flavorful recipe additions. The dense, sweet flesh, coupled with their unique crunchy seed, goes well in baked goods, with meat, poultry, fish, vegetables and other fruits. Figs can act as a sweetener in a variety of preparations. Fig puree (8 ounces of figs pureed in a blender with 1/4 to 1/3 cup water or fruit juice) can be used as both a sweetener and a fat substitute in many recipes.
FIG NUTRITION FACTS
"Figs are restorative. The best food that can be taken by those who are brought low by long sickness and are on the way to recovery. They increase the strength of young people, preserve the elderly in better health and make them look younger with fewer wrinkles," wrote Pliny, a Roman historian (62-113 A.D.).
Of the common fruits, figs have the highest sugar content. Dried, a fig is about 50 percent sugar. It has a notable amount of protein and abundant calcium, magnesium phosphorus and potassium. For more nutritional information, see the accompanying chart.
Figs are a good source of the indigestible food fiber lignin. Cells whose walls are highly lignified retain water and since they are impossible to digest, help bulk up the stool. Figs also contain ficin, a protein-breaking enzyme similar to papain in papayas and bromelin in fresh pineapple. Ficin also has some laxative effects. Together lignin and ficin make figs an efficient laxative food.
When buying figs look for plump soft fresh figs with skin that is green, brown or purple, depending on the variety. As figs ripen, the pectin in their cell walls dissolves and the figs grow softer to the touch. Choose dried figs in tightly sealed airtight packages. Avoid fresh figs that smell sour. The odor indicates that the sugars in the fig have fermented and the fruit is spoiled.
Refrigerate fresh figs. Dried figs can be stored in the refrigerator or at room temperature; either way, wrap them tightly in an air- and moisture-proof container. Dried figs may keep for several months.
Wash fresh figs under cool water; use dried figs right out of the package. If you want to slice the dried figs, chill them first in the refrigerator or freezer. Cold figs are easier to slice.
Old World History
The fig is mentioned frequently in the Bible and is included in the garden of Eden. It is a traditional food in the Jewish Passover celebration. The fig tree figures in the founding of great cultures and religions. Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were suckled by a she-wolf under a fig tree, which later, in the time of Pliny, was revered as a sacred tree. While sitting under a fig tree, Siddhartha Gautama had the revelation that formed the foundations of Buddhism.
Figs have been prized for both medicinal and dietary value. Mithridates, the Greek king of Pontus (120-63 B.C.), heralded figs as an antidote for all ailments and instructed his physicians to consider its uses as a medicine. Pliny of Rome (62-113) said "Figs are restorative. The best food that can be eaten by those who are brought low by long sickness and are on the way to recovery. They increase the strength of young people, preserve the elderly in better health and make them look younger with fewer wrinkles". The early Greeks so highly prized figs that it was considered an honor to bestow the foliage and fruit. In the original Olympic games, winning athletes were crowned with fig wreaths and given figs to eat.
The common fig probably originated in the fertile part of southern Arabia (Solms-Laubach 1885). Ancient records indicate both King Urukagina of the Sumarian era (2900 B.C.) and the Assyrians (2000 B.c.) were familiar with it. No records of its introduction to this area exist, but the caprifig, ancestor of the edible fig, is still found there growing wild. From southern Arabia the Bahra tribe brought the fig to ancient Idumaea and Coelsyria (Lagarde 1881). Over a period of several centuries, it slowly spread from there to Syria and the Mediterranean coast. Once figs reached the coast, they rapidly spread throughout the Mediterranean region aided by the maritime nations. They were known in Crete by 1600 B.C.
While it is probable that the home of the edible fig is ancient Arabia, the origin of the cultivated fig industry is most certainly elsewhere. Almost all currently cultivated subtropicals, e.g., citrus, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, peaches, olives, dates, and prunes, were initially cultivated in unknown locations in western Asia or Asia Minor. The only known civilization of sufficient age and sophistication capable of these accomplishments is that of the Mesopotamians, who dwelt in the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys over 10,000 years ago and are credited as the original cultivators of many modem important horticultural and agronomic crops (Eisen 1901).
The Phoenicians and the Greeks, were responsible for spreading fig culture throughout the Old World. By the end of the 14th century B.C. the older of the two, the Phoenicians, had colonized the islands of the Mediterranean: Cyprus, Rhodes, Sicily, Malta, and Corsica. Their colonization to the south included the coasts of Africa, Spain, Portugal, and France and up to the English Channel. Evidence indicates the fig industry spread with these explorations prior to its introduction into Greece and Italy.
The use of figs among early Greeks paralleled their rise in the literature: when mention of figs was infrequent in the literature, fresh figs were a luxury of the rich. Later, when references were common, figs had become an important dietary staple, particularly dried figs during winter months.
It is uncertain when figs were first introduced to Europe. They are hardly mentioned in the Homeric songs (ca. 850 B.C.), the oldest existing European literature. There is no reference to them in the Iliad, the description of the Trojan war waged by the Greeks. However, in the Odyssey, the description of Odysseus' wanderings after the war, figs are mentioned three times; during the agonies of Tantulus in the lower world he tried in vain to reach the fruits almost within his grasp: "...pomegranates, pears, apples, sweet figs and dark olives." As the Homeric songs were probably composed in the ninth century B.C. these references would be among the earliest. However, later investigations st the verses mentioning figs were interpolations of a later date. The first mention of undoubted authenticity is by the seventh-century B.C. Archilochus, who tells of figs being cultivated on the isle of Paros. these few references it can be deduced that figs were introduced Greece in the eighth century B.C., probably from the Semitic people from Palestine and Asia Minor.
Once introduced fig cultivation quickly spread throughout Greece to become an important article of diet for both rich and poor. The term "sycophant" has its origins in ancient Greece. Athenians were particularly fond of figs and were nicknamed "sycophants" (syke or fig-eaters). Later, when members of the same population informed authorities of illegally exporting figs from Attica, the word assumed its modern meaning. From this time on the fig is mentioned frequently in Greek literature.
From Greece, fig culture spread to northern Mediterranean and Adriatic shores until it reached southern Italy. There it must have been established by the eighth century B.C. as it is mentioned in the earliest Roman mythology in conjunction with the founding of Rome, as previously mentioned.
Figs were sufficiently important to Romans that considerable effort expended developing new cultivars. These were sufficiently numerous and distinct for Pliny (23-27) to note: "We see from this how the real law which preserves the types of the species may vary." The cultivars described by Theophrastus, Cato, and Pliny can no longer be identified with certainty and probably have long since been discarded in of better ones. The many cultivars mentioned by Greek and Latin authors indicate that fig culture was extensively distributed and of great importance. Also, from these writings it appears that the best figs were those of Syria. During the reign of the emperor Tiberius (42 B.C.-37 A.D.) was considerable trade in Syrian figs.
By the end of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, fig culture was well distributed throughout the Mediterranean and along the shores of the Atlantic; it stretched from Africa, Portugal, France, Channel Islands, and the southern part of England. However, Syria was preeminent in the cultivation and drying of figs. The hieroglyphic for fig was bakou and was often referred to as a country rich in wine, oil, and bakou (Chabas 1782).
Seventeen hundred years after the Phoenician colonization, the Arabic conquests retraced their route. They carried the fig in its numerous new permutations, and raised fig culture to a degree of importance it had never attained since Syria. The Arabic invasion extended through northern Africa to Spain and Portugal and in these countries fig culture flourished rapidly and became even more important than it had been in Greece or Italy. Arabs esteemed figs above all other fruits. Zamakkhschari, an Arabian interpreter of the Koran, reported that Mohammed said, "If I could wish a fruit brought to paradise it would certainly be the fig."
These Arabic medieval invasions indelibly stamped their mark on fig culture in the occupied territories. The figs grown there were vastly superior to those of the Greek and Roman colonies. Algarve In Portugal, the most southern of the Greek colonies outside the Pillars of Hercules, was later occupied by Arabs, and with its almost ideal climate, it produced a fig that dominated Western European and English markets well into the nineteenth century. The now dominant Smyrna fig did not supplant the Portuguese figs until late in the nineteenth century. Arabic influence is still felt today in Portugal where caprifigs are referred to as fico de toca, from the Arabic name tokkar, and in Malta where the name tokar is still in use.
The fig spread slowly through Asia Minor and Syria to Mesopotamia, Persia, and the Arabian desert. Fig culture was still unknown in the lowlands between the Tigris and Euphrates (Solms-Laubach 1885) by the time it had been highly developed in Iran, Armenia, and Afghanistan. India first cultivated figs in the fourteenth century and edible native varieties are now found growing in the Punjab hills.
Figs supposedly reached China in 127 during the reign of the emperor Tschang-Kien, who supported an expedition to Turin, Italy, but some feel this early report is a myth. The fig is first mentioned by Chinese writers in the eighth century, and therefore it is generally thought figs reached China no earlier than the Tang period (618-907). Hia-tscheng-Shi in his work on Chinese trade, Yu-yang-tsa-tsu, speaks of tin-tin; tin is 'fig' in Arabic, from Fo-tin (Palestine). He mentions that this fruit was produced without blossoms, which is the appearance figs give. A type of fig, apparently not identical to our own, was grown in China in the fourteenth century. The first verifiable report of fig culture in China was that of the celebrated writer Le-Shi-tschen who described figs growing in Chinese gardens. From this point on it is safe to assume the fig was firmly established in the Far East.
Although well regarded in Egypt, the fig never assumed great prominence; a papyrus from 1552 B.C.. extols it as a tonic for the body. Tombs at Benihassan depict fig trees being harvested (Unger 1859; Zohary 1975). The spread of figs southward in Africa was even slower, not reaching South Africa until the nineteenth century.
New World Adventures
Figs were first introduced into the New World by Spanish and Portuguese missionaries. The Spanish historian Puente y Olea (1900) located records of European fig shipments from Seville, Spain to the West Indies in 1520. Oviedo y Validez (1526) tells of fig trees growing on the Island of Espanola (now Cuba). Then, as now, market protection existed. While the island was a Spanish colony, families were each allowed only one fig tree to prevent competition with the mother country (Canova 1910). Simultaneously, the Spanish also introduced figs to Peru in 1528 (Acosta 1590; Tamaro 1920).
From the West Indies figs spread to both coasts of the United States (Unger 1859, 1860). Initially, they were quickly adopted by local populations. However, by the twentieth century they had become a thriving industry In the southwest and a dooryard tree In the southeastern United States.
1. Eastern United States. From Cuba, figs were introduced to Santa Elena (Parris Island, South Carolina) on the southeastern coast of the United States in 1575 and quickly spread throughout the region (Menendez 1500; Martinez 1577). Independently, they were introduced to Virginia from Bermuda in 1621 (Brown 1898). A town in Florida, established In 1763 by one Dr. Turnbull who sponsored the immigration of 1500 Greeks and Minorcans, was named New Smyrna, after the popular cultivar of fig produced there (Forbes 1821). In 1720, figs from France were introduced by the French missionaries to their colony, the Louisiana Territory (Hamilton 1910). Figs thrived throughout the region and reports of them in the Southeastern United States were numerous.
Despite many efforts and an obviously successful fig tree culture in the southeastern United States, a fig industry failed to develop. Some records of failed attempts exist. J. K. Russell of Olustee, Florida, destroyed his orchard due to high labor costs and foreign competition (Reasoner 1891). This is interesting in light of the fact that competition from Old World countries is still one of the most pressing problems facing the California industry today.
In spite of the fact that figs were well distributed throughout the southeastern United States they did not spread initially from there to the western United States. Rather, they were imported from the West Indies to Spanish missions in Mexico. It Is generally accepted that they subsequently spread from Mexico to California with the Franciscan missionaries. The first California figs were planted in 1769 in the gardens of The Mission of San Diego de Alcala. These same figs were planted in the string of missions stretching northward to Sonoma, and according to Mission records, they existed in Santa Clara by 1792 and in Ventura by 1793 (Vancouver 1798). Hence, the first figs in California were 'Mission' or 'Franciscan' figs.
'Mission' figs remained the only figs in California until the arrival of American settlers from the east in 1850 who then imported a wide variety of figs from the eastern United States and Europe. These imports led to the establishment of the first commercial fig orchards in California. By 1867 there were over 1000 acres in the Sacramento Valley and 35 acres in the San Joaquin Valley. 'White Adriatic' was the most widely planted cultivar. A 27-acre orchard of 'White Adriatic' figs planted in Fresno in 1885 produced the first carload of dried figs sent east in 1889.
The beginning of the twentieth century through 1943 was the heyday of the California fig industry. By 1943, California had 34,499 acres (14,000 ha) of figs, 96% of it bearing and virtually all of it In the central San Joaquin Valley. The bearing crop area consisted of 40% 'Calimyrna', 26% 'White Adriatic', 18% 'Black Mission' and 15% 'Kadota'.
The 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, which closed the Suez Canal and therefore Mediterranean shipping channels from the east, created a demand for California figs. The availability of abundant, inexpensive, irrigated land on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley as a result of the completion of the California Aqueduct, and the need to plant an early-bearing crop to defray taxes and stand-by water charges, facilitated new fig plantings. The net result was a resurgence in the industry starting with increased plantings in 1968. From 1973 through 1967 the industry area has fluctuated between a low of 15,910 acres (6,439 ha) in 1978 to a 1981 high of 21,520 acres (8,709 ha). The current cultivar percentage has shifted toward 'Calimyrnas' (59%) and 'Black Missions,' (16%), and away from 'White Adriatics' (19%) and 'Kadotas,' (7%).
Currently, California ranks third in world fig production after Turkey and Greece, and ahead of Spain and Portugal. The state produces 100% of domestic fig production and 65% of the figs consumed in the country. In 1987 it produced a total of 15,000 t of figs with a total value of $16 million. Of the 26 noncitrus fruit crops produced in California, figs rank 22nd in value and 18th in bearing area (Moyer 1989).
posted by Split Bean Coffee at 9:14 PM
