Fig

A deciduous tree (Ficus carica) native to the Mediterranean basin and southwest Asia, among the oldest cultivated fruit trees in the world, with archaeological evidence from the Jordan Valley suggesting fig cultivation began roughly eleven thousand years ago, by some estimates predating the domestication of wheat and barley in the same region. The fig's true fruit is technically a fleshy, inverted flower cluster called a syconium, and many cultivated varieties historically depended on a specialized wasp for pollination, though some modern cultivars set fruit without it. Turkey, Egypt and other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries remain the leading producers, and figs are eaten fresh, dried or processed into pastes and preserves worldwide.