It’s fig season. Called ‘false fruits’, they are in fact encased flowers, which go unseen, unless the fig is cut open, or you are a fig wasp. The teeny fig wasp (one species for each species of fig, which makes for a very specific plant-and-insect symbiosis) ensures the reproduction of the fig and itself by simultaneously pollinating and laying eggs in the flowers. (Those crunchy bits in the ‘fruit’ are seeds and weeny wasps. Don't worry they're harmless.)

True slow ‘fruits’, figs are best eaten as close to the tree of origin as possible (they spoil easily) and as ripe as possible (look for the honey-like drop of moisture on the fig’s surface). Serve them fresh and full of sun – leave in the sun for an hour before eating. Whether you eat the skin or not is a matter of taste; fig-skin eaters also probably swallow the watermelon pips (the black ones) and eat apple cores.

More than just good eating, these sensuous little bombs have significance the world over: Adam and Eve covered their bits with fig leaves, Buddha attained Enlightenment under a fig tree and Hindus believe them to be sacred. Go fig-ure.