From 2016: There are more than 700 species of fig, and each one has its own species of wasp. When you eat a dried fig, you’re probably chewing wasp mummies, too.
Replies
The figs digest the wasp corpse knock it off.
aug 13, 2025, 3:39 pm • 13 0 • view
There never was a wasp to begin with. bsky.app/profile/nafn...
aug 13, 2025, 4:36 pm • 15 1 • view
Ahhh even worse!
aug 13, 2025, 4:38 pm • 2 0 • view
They may still die inside the fig but most figs are made usually wasp free now.
aug 14, 2025, 5:19 am • 0 0 • view
Even if there happen to be fig wasps in the area (which is unlikely, and even if one (flea-sized) wasp enters, figs have evolved to digest wasps in female fruits. See 'ficain'. They don't want anything messing with their developing seeds. Of course, there *could* be insects in *any* fruit. :)
aug 14, 2025, 10:01 am • 4 0 • view
Just some extra nutrients 🤣
aug 14, 2025, 4:18 pm • 0 0 • view
This ^
aug 13, 2025, 4:30 pm • 0 0 • view
Figs are, sexy.
aug 14, 2025, 2:00 am • 1 0 • view
Is that the subtle crunch you get?
aug 13, 2025, 6:57 pm • 0 0 • view
A fresh fig has a texture than can only be described as erotic.
aug 14, 2025, 4:17 am • 0 0 • view
I eat fresh figs too
aug 13, 2025, 3:04 pm • 0 0 • view
EEEWWW
aug 13, 2025, 4:55 pm • 0 0 • view
Thanks a lot 🤢
aug 13, 2025, 4:20 pm • 0 0 • view
aug 13, 2025, 3:17 pm • 0 0 • view
So, these wasps are in fig rolls then? Or removed prior to sale?
aug 13, 2025, 6:23 pm • 0 0 • view
They were never there to begin with. This myth needs to die. Commercial figs are nearly all parthenocarpic (no pollination needed), and of the rare non-parthenocarpic varieties, the (flea-sized) wasp is digested by the fig (they literally produce an enzyme to digest - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficain)
aug 13, 2025, 10:57 pm • 0 0 • view
The figs that are full of bugs are "caprifigs", which are from the flowers of male trees, not the female flowers (and that's assuming they're grown in a place that even has fig wasps). There is no market for caprifigs. They're, at best, animal food.
aug 13, 2025, 10:57 pm • 0 0 • view
And loving every damn bite!!!
aug 14, 2025, 5:17 am • 0 0 • view
Who are these people who say it’s geriatric food?
aug 13, 2025, 3:21 pm • 2 0 • view
More ageist bullshit.
aug 14, 2025, 4:14 pm • 1 0 • view
I used to have a fig tree with the most delicious figs. I had to compete with the birds to get to them first. I would dry them myself, the only way I had to preserve them. My mother made preserves, but I haven’t done that.
aug 13, 2025, 3:17 pm • 4 0 • view
I currently have a fig tree that has been taken over by birds. Once the crows leave, the starlings swoop in. I’ll be lucky to get one fig this year 😭
aug 13, 2025, 4:11 pm • 1 0 • view
That's what happened to my blueberries this year; plus the deer. Oh, well.
aug 13, 2025, 5:43 pm • 2 0 • view
At least you get to see some cute deer!
aug 13, 2025, 5:56 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes, this is true. They most definitely have a diverse diet around here; from berries to hydrangeas, to my veggie garden. It's "deer don't eat camellias and other lies I've told myself." 😂
aug 13, 2025, 6:01 pm • 2 0 • view
lol maybe you should call your yard “The Buffet”
aug 13, 2025, 6:10 pm • 1 0 • view
That's exactly what my hubs calls it. 😆
aug 13, 2025, 6:14 pm • 1 0 • view
If you want to keep the birds away.... hang rubber snakes in your trees! They hate them! But be sure to move them around because no snake stays still. It's fun to watch the birds get aggressive with these infiltrators.
aug 13, 2025, 5:47 pm • 1 0 • view
Interesting! I will have to keep that in mind. I have heard of using owls, but not snakes. It’s funny cause once you pointed it out, it seems so obvious! Lol My grandpa had a large garden and he would take the AOL discs he got in the mail and hang them up everywhere. It was pretty effective
aug 13, 2025, 5:55 pm • 1 0 • view
You can purchase Conspicuity Tape to hang around but they get used to it, then ignore it. But that's with anything to do with birds. They are very intelligent. I'll never forget watching a female Mocking bird going to town on one of the rubber snakes until she threw it out of the tree in disgust!
aug 13, 2025, 6:35 pm • 1 0 • view
When we were kids my older sister used to tell me there were bug parts in my fig newtons. So she was right all along?
aug 13, 2025, 3:20 pm • 2 0 • view
No, she was not. The overwhelming majority of commercial figs are parthenocarpic (no fertilization involved), and of those that aren't, the (flea-sized) wasp is digested during the 1 1/2 to 3 months it takes the fig to develop. There is no "wasp mummy" like The New Yorker says.
aug 13, 2025, 4:47 pm • 4 0 • view
What happens to the wasp once it's digested? Does it get absorbed in to the fig?
aug 14, 2025, 1:03 am • 0 0 • view
What happens to food you eat when you digest it? They're broken down into simple compounds that are metabolized. (And again, the vast majority of commercial figs are parthenocarpic and their reproduction has nothing to do with these flea-sized fig wasps).
aug 14, 2025, 4:18 pm • 1 0 • view
She was kinda right, but for a different reason. “Contains 13 or more insect heads per 100 grams of fig paste in each of 2 or more subsamples” is the “action level” set by the FDA. www.fda.gov/food/current...
aug 13, 2025, 6:29 pm • 2 0 • view
Thank you! I was a little freaked out
aug 13, 2025, 5:06 pm • 1 0 • view
Many thanks for that tasteful little tip. 🙄
aug 13, 2025, 3:47 pm • 2 0 • view
The only thing you need to know about figs is that Donald Trump is all over the Epstein Files
aug 13, 2025, 11:34 pm • 3 0 • view
Full of umami
aug 13, 2025, 3:42 pm • 6 0 • view
[*fig newtons enters chat*]
aug 13, 2025, 3:47 pm • 3 0 • view
That last line is just not true. The wasp is absorbed into the fruit because the fig produces an enzyme called ficin which dissolves the wasps body. What else do you lie about for clicks?
aug 13, 2025, 3:31 pm • 1 0 • view
Ewww
aug 13, 2025, 4:24 pm • 0 0 • view
Na und? Die meisten Menschen essen tote Säugetiere,die nur ausreichend Kühlung oder einlegen vor Verwesung bewahren. Dagegen enthalten Insekten und Würmer viele Proteine und Eiweiße,sind also auch noch gesünder. Guten Appetit.😋
aug 13, 2025, 4:26 pm • 0 0 • view
📌
aug 13, 2025, 3:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Free protein..
aug 14, 2025, 10:32 am • 0 0 • view
Yuck. I have never liked figs and now I like them even less.
aug 13, 2025, 5:22 pm • 1 0 • view
Is not present in commercially cultivated figs.
aug 13, 2025, 5:51 pm • 0 0 • view
I have eaten fig newtons all my life and have never noticed any corpses. If they were there they were delicious.
aug 13, 2025, 4:30 pm • 0 0 • view
Nope. Didn’t need to know that. Thanks
aug 14, 2025, 4:13 am • 1 0 • view
I don’t think I’ll ever eat a fig again. Thanks.
aug 13, 2025, 3:48 pm • 1 0 • view
Good news: it's false.
aug 13, 2025, 4:48 pm • 0 0 • view
The damage to my psyche is already done. lol
aug 13, 2025, 5:01 pm • 1 0 • view
Ok — I didn’t know this —- 😬😬😬😬😬
aug 13, 2025, 5:05 pm • 0 0 • view
Thought about growing humble tree in my yard, might consider growing an entire nursery now.
aug 13, 2025, 3:12 pm • 0 0 • view
Ok , I was nice and high, now thanks to the NewYorker Magazine, I’m paranoid about what did I eat on my figs, not high anymore, who should I send my 50 dollars American for good Mexican weed? 😳 NYM you owe me weed money! 💰
aug 13, 2025, 3:13 pm • 0 0 • view
Oh, YUMMM. Now you have nearly ruined figs for me - but not quite.
aug 13, 2025, 4:11 pm • 0 0 • view
FYI, this is misinformation. There's no wasp in your figs.
aug 14, 2025, 4:20 pm • 1 0 • view
Ah hell nah! I love dried figs… why did you have to tell me this?!? Ignorance was bliss…
aug 14, 2025, 6:14 am • 0 0 • view
Why do you have to ruin figs for me
aug 14, 2025, 1:59 am • 0 0 • view
I eat the Newton variety.
aug 13, 2025, 4:03 pm • 0 0 • view
What??? I had no idea. Thank you Dear New Yorker for reliably inspiring me with unexpected discoveries like this!
aug 13, 2025, 4:34 pm • 0 0 • view
It's misinformation, and they should be ashamed for spreading it.
aug 13, 2025, 4:48 pm • 2 0 • view
The roughage 👀
aug 13, 2025, 3:17 pm • 0 0 • view
I just purchased black figs at my local TJMkt Monday. 🥰
aug 13, 2025, 3:02 pm • 0 0 • view
Ewwwww
aug 13, 2025, 3:04 pm • 1 0 • view
This isn’t true? Plenty of figs pollinate without a wasp.
aug 13, 2025, 4:37 pm • 6 0 • view
aug 13, 2025, 5:24 pm • 1 0 • view
Protein.
aug 13, 2025, 7:32 pm • 0 0 • view
Fuck off. Let us enjoy things
aug 13, 2025, 3:45 pm • 1 0 • view