Did you know that Sir Ernest Shackleton, a famous polar explorer, packed dried figs for his exploration trip to Antarctica?
Figs are one of the oldest fruits in the world. They are rich in copper and vitamin B6.
'Fresh figs contain some calories from natural sugar, but having a few figs is a reasonable, low-calorie snack or addition to a meal.
On the other hand, dried figs are high in sugar and rich in calories, as the sugar becomes concentrated when the fruits are dried.'
For more information about the nutritional values of figs, read here
In South Africa, figs are used to make jam, for drying and eating fresh. They are in season from the end of January to the end of April.
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| There are more than 1000 varieties of figs around the world. We picked this variety of figs at an empty stand of land when we cycled. |
Set back from serene Prince Albert town in the Western Cape Province, about 25km, is Weltevrede Fig Farm.
It was established in 1853, and is one of the big fig farms in South Africa.
The farm mainly plants Adam figs, which lend themselves to drying and eating fresh. They have purple skin and dark red flesh. However, they don't travel well.
They sell fresh figs to Woolworths stores nationwide and export fresh figs to the UK and other European countries.
What fascinates me is that once I'm at Weltevrede, I can eat fresh figs at a much cheaper price and see how they are grown and hand-picked behind the shelves.
They offer
a wide range of fig products, from fresh figs and all kinds of dried figs to
beauty products from figs. Plus home decor products and things for the kitchen.
When I went
to visit Weltevrede in 2019, I was amazed by the size and greenness of the fig farm among the rocks—rocks of all shapes and sizes. They have about 2000 trees which are amazingly lush and surrounded by a range of mountains in a hidden place like a desert. But rows and rows of figs grow and thrive thanks to
the water at the foot of the mountain.
Tourists from all over the world come here to see figs with their own eyes and, most pleasantly, to have a bite of fresh figs. And, of course, they won't miss out on a love-at-first-bite delight of the farm—crispy and creamy fig tarts. I promise you that you will not be able to find such tasty fig tarts in high-end restaurants in Cape Town and the surroundings—flocked with tourists with lots of bling-bling such as diamond rings and proudly branded clothes, expensive watches and flashy shoes.
Most of the tourists are from Europe. They are seemingly searching for African pure fashion.
At the till lies a thick memory book. Before putting my notes in it, I browsed from page to page to see what people wrote and to scrutinise others' handwriting which I believe is more artful than my child-like one, one note with a slender handwriting style caught my eye. It said ‘We don’t want to take figs home. We want to eat them right here.’ This note speaks perfectly for Weltevrede.
When we
were there, they were busy building accommodations for tourists to sleep over.
It would be a wonderful hideaway for people who want to stay away from the
hubbub of the city for a while. It must have serviced tourists by now.
After being content with our walk around the farm, I bought 10kg of fresh Adam figs to make fig preserve. Each of us bought 02 kgs of dried figs to take home. We couldn't resist the sweetness of dried figs after having a taste.
Now allow me to take you on a visual tour of this beautiful fig farm.
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| Trays of figs - peeled and unpeeled - welcome the sunlight |
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| Peeled sun-dried figs in the sun |
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| Peeled sun-dried figs shrink after receiving some sweet kisses from the Karoo sun |
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| Yum Yum! Sweet and chewy |
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| The shop is presented in an attractive way |
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| This 'puppy' is even bigger than I am. He wasn't a good guard dog because he kept snoozing. |
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| Beside rows of fig trees, the farm is adorned with pomegranates and quinces, which are not for sale. |
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| Quinces are as hard as rock. They are used in baking and to make jam. This was the first time I had seen quinces. |
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| I was posing for visual memories by beautiful pomegranates |
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| The cattle bridge on the way to the fig farm. We have 07 km from here to our fascinating destination. |
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| The winding gravel road to town from the cattle bridge |
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| 7km more to pedal |
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| 7km to go to the fig farm from the sign shown above |
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| My 'iron man' stopped to check his 'iron horse', so I killed my time by taking photos of the magnificent view. All you can see is rock, pebbles and pale green flora. |
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| Dried figs that are peeled and cut in half are being dried in the sun. They look like rose petals. |
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| The iconic product at the farm shop: cushions for sofas or beds. |
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| Vibrant flowers that can withstand the heat and lack of water in the semi-desert region. There is this kind of flower, gomphrena ('hoa cúc nút áo' in Vietnamese) in Vietnam too, so seeing them is like I'm in Vietnam now. |
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| Fig tart, a love-at-first-bite delight of the farm, is served with a dollop of cream. The crust is crispy and not easy to crack with a cake fork, but the filling is lightly sweet and juicy and, of course, infilled with fig flavours. The fig tart which my 'iron man' and I shared was a reward for our cycling after a lot of sweat, huffing and puffing, and fun. |
This time, as the previous time, we ordered 10kg of fresh figs to make fig preserve. We couldn't carry them on our bike, so the farm manager delivered them to the Lazy Lizard eatery and shop in town, where we ate breakfast, the next morning. We just drove to the Lazy Lizard to collect our figs. Then we asked our lady at our B&B if we could store them in her fridge. She was happy to say yes.
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| Daisies at the Lazy Lizard eatery and shop |
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