Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Fig

[00:00:00] Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show.

[00:00:02] We're going to continue our series on the medicinal uses of common trees.

[00:00:08] This is really one of my favorites because it's actually my favorite fruit.

[00:00:12] Well, one of my favorite fruit trees.

[00:00:14] It is ficus or fig.

[00:00:16] I love figs.

[00:00:18] I'm really a big fan of nice, ripe turkey figs, honey figs, various figs.

[00:00:26] I like to put them with something salty like some ham and some feta cheese.

[00:00:31] It's just blue cheese especially.

[00:00:34] Man, I love some Roquefort or really any kind of good blue cheese from Gorgonzola to Maytag, do you name it, with figs.

[00:00:44] Just fantastic.

[00:00:45] Now if I had to say my favorite fruit, okay, I don't know.

[00:00:47] I love wild apples, heirloom apples.

[00:00:51] Old varieties of apple trees that are usually real tart and crisp and good for making cider.

[00:00:58] I like those better than the sweet apples in the store.

[00:01:01] I grew up eating those in the mountains.

[00:01:04] Every time you find where there used to be a homestead, the state, well the federal government took tons of land from people to build the national forests and the Blue Ridge Parkway and all that.

[00:01:16] Really mistreated the mountain people horribly.

[00:01:19] They confiscated land.

[00:01:21] If you go to Newland, that's the county seat of Avery County, you'll see these little neighborhoods where people basically have an old 1950s mobile home on a lot about 200 square feet by 1,000 or something.

[00:01:41] Not even that probably.

[00:01:43] 200 by 500.

[00:01:44] I mean it's like they may have 10 feet larger of a lot than the mobile home takes.

[00:01:51] That's what they gave them for their farms, believe it or not.

[00:01:54] They moved all hundreds of people out of the national forest around there, stuck them in the middle of town and that was supposed to be a fair trade off.

[00:02:05] And their kids could go to school because they'd have a bus that would come pick them up.

[00:02:09] So I mean they screwed these people badly.

[00:02:11] I mean those lots now that were just poor farms then, those pieces of property would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[00:02:19] And they're stuck in a little trailer on a postage stamp.

[00:02:24] What do you say?

[00:02:27] I always say the government creates the slums of tomorrow.

[00:02:29] And that's what it comes down to.

[00:02:31] That's government housing whether it's HUD housing, housing projects or what they did to the Appalachian folk.

[00:02:40] And that, you know, what do you do?

[00:02:42] The judges said it was fair.

[00:02:44] It was imminent to Maine.

[00:02:46] Because they were getting a house in town, they were actually getting a great bargain.

[00:02:51] Of course they had no choice.

[00:02:53] They may have had a three, four hundred acre stretch of woods and a nice farm and cattle one day and the next day, yep.

[00:03:00] They're stuck in a little trailer on about, I don't even know how many square foot watt.

[00:03:06] I mean it was just, and going to be impoverished for generations.

[00:03:11] You know they took away these people's generational wealth which was in the land.

[00:03:17] And made sure they'd be impoverished and on welfare for generations to come.

[00:03:24] That's what the government does.

[00:03:26] Anyway, but no I love apples.

[00:03:29] I love cherries.

[00:03:30] I mean cherries may actually be my favorite fruit.

[00:03:33] But then also you can't beat a good ripe peach.

[00:03:36] You know, absolutely.

[00:03:38] So anyway, let's talk about figs.

[00:03:41] Now figs have been used as food and medicine as long as there's recorded history.

[00:03:47] I mean they go back, the Babylonians and Egyptians were crazy about figs.

[00:03:51] You know, ancient Greek just nuts over figs.

[00:03:55] Ancient Rome, you name it.

[00:03:57] But anyway, and the Persians, oh man.

[00:04:00] And the Turkish, I mean they just love their figs.

[00:04:04] And yeah, for good reason.

[00:04:06] They are delicious but they're also medicinal.

[00:04:08] And now let's look at what Dioscorides wrote about the medicinal use.

[00:04:16] Well he preferred figs to be dried actually.

[00:04:20] He didn't like fresh figs.

[00:04:22] A lot of old writers thought fresh fruit was bad for the stomach.

[00:04:25] I don't know why.

[00:04:26] Yeah, if you eat a bunch of raw apples too many you might get a stomach ache.

[00:04:30] But definitely not bad for you.

[00:04:33] But anyway he said that they would bring out pimples and sweat,

[00:04:38] clench thirst and extinguish heat.

[00:04:41] The dry ones, and that was the raw ones, which he didn't like by the way.

[00:04:45] He said it would cause cramping and diarrhea.

[00:04:49] Actually eat raw figs, which is really odd I think.

[00:04:52] Anyway he said the dry ones are nourishing and warming.

[00:04:55] Cause thirst and are good for the bowels.

[00:04:58] They are good for the throat, arteries, bladder and kidneys.

[00:05:02] And those who have poor color from a long illness as well as asthma, epilepsy and drapsee.

[00:05:07] Now usually when they say it's good for epilepsy what they're talking about is seizures that were caused by fluid retention.

[00:05:14] And anything that's diuretic was often the first thing they would try to use when someone had epilepsy.

[00:05:20] Doesn't mean it's a cure for epilepsy.

[00:05:22] This was far more common in ancient times.

[00:05:27] You know when people had bad water and it was hot and dry.

[00:05:31] And a lot of times they wouldn't urinate properly.

[00:05:36] The kidneys wouldn't function properly essentially.

[00:05:40] And that excess that edema caused seizures.

[00:05:44] So anyway he said boiled with hyssop and taken as a drink.

[00:05:49] They clean away all things in the chest.

[00:05:52] They are good for old coughs and long lasting disorders of the lungs.

[00:05:57] And pounded together with saltpeter and knicus.

[00:06:01] C-N-I-C-U-S it's a thistle.

[00:06:03] And eaten they soften the bowels.

[00:06:05] That's knicus meningictus.

[00:06:07] That's blessed thistle actually.

[00:06:09] A decoction of them is good for the inflammation around the arteries and tonsils used in a gargle.

[00:06:16] They are mixed in poultices with barley meal, fenugreek and barley water for women's warm packs.

[00:06:22] So used as a warm compress probably for cramping.

[00:06:26] Boiled with roux they are used as a suppository for griping.

[00:06:30] Boiled and afterwards pounded into small pieces and applied.

[00:06:34] They dissolve hard lumps and soften peritoid tumors.

[00:06:38] Paratoid I think is the way it's pronounced.

[00:06:41] Peritid yeah there it is.

[00:06:43] Parotid.

[00:06:47] Boils and inflammatory tumors.

[00:06:50] They ripen panus which is opaque thickening of the cornea.

[00:06:57] More effectively with iris, saltpeter, that's potassium nitrate or quick lime.

[00:07:03] The calcium oxide.

[00:07:05] That's the lime that's been burned but not yet slaked with water by the way.

[00:07:09] Has some limited medicinal use. We don't much use it anymore.

[00:07:13] Pounded raw with things previously specified they do the same.

[00:07:17] With pomegranate rind they clean away the pterygium.

[00:07:23] It's a membrane on the eye with calcantrum, this limestone.

[00:07:29] Oh yeah limestone.

[00:07:31] They cure difficult curable malignant discharges of the tibiae.

[00:07:37] This hollow bone marrow. That's hot.

[00:07:41] Boiled in wine and mixed with some wormwood and barley meal.

[00:07:45] They're good for drops. They apply it as a poultice.

[00:07:48] Burnt and put into wax ointment they cure chillblains.

[00:07:51] The raw ones pounded into small pieces and mixed with moist mustard put into the ears.

[00:07:56] Cures noises and ringing in them.

[00:07:59] Now that's interesting. Like tinnitus or tenegis whatever.

[00:08:02] Worth a try. I mean I don't really know how that works but hey.

[00:08:06] Easy remedy if it does.

[00:08:09] So moist mustard and I'm guessing that is ground mustard seed.

[00:08:13] And pounded raw figs.

[00:08:18] The milky juice of both the wild and cultivated figs coagulates milk like rennet.

[00:08:24] You can actually use, this is a good prepper tip.

[00:08:28] You can actually use the sap essentially from figs to make cheese.

[00:08:33] Really interesting. Just as you would rennet, castrenet.

[00:08:38] Taken as a drink with almonds that have been pounded into small pieces.

[00:08:41] It is able to make bodies break out into boils.

[00:08:44] To open pores loosen the bowels and relax the womb.

[00:08:48] I think he means bring the boils to a head is what he's saying.

[00:08:51] Not necessarily to cause boils.

[00:08:54] It expels the menstrual flow applied with the yolk of an egg.

[00:08:58] It is good put in upholstices made for gout together with fenugreek flowers and vinegar.

[00:09:03] With polenta it cleans leprosy.

[00:09:06] Must have helped with the sores of leprosy I guess.

[00:09:09] Oh and what they call lichen which is essentially, what is called lichen sclerosis I believe.

[00:09:16] It's a skin disorder which causes rough patches, rough discolored patches of skin.

[00:09:22] It's an autoimmune thing.

[00:09:25] Let's see.

[00:09:28] It can be used for spots made by the sun.

[00:09:33] I don't know, dark spots on the skin from the sun.

[00:09:37] I don't know.

[00:09:38] With polenta, dropped on sores it helps those stung by scorpions and strikes of beasts.

[00:09:45] And those bitten by dogs taken on wool into the cavities of a teeth it helps toothache.

[00:09:51] It takes away warts if rubbed on the flesh with animal fat.

[00:09:56] These are not ways we use figs these days.

[00:09:59] Obviously we think of them as just food.

[00:10:03] And then he goes on and talks about the cultivated fig.

[00:10:07] Pretty much same use.

[00:10:12] He's boiled with wine and applied as a poultice good for all kinds of sores.

[00:10:20] Swollen glands, goiters, applied well with saltpeter they take away warts.

[00:10:29] We just covered that use.

[00:10:31] Applied with vinegar they heal running oil, ulcers on the head, dandruff, pustules which appear only at night.

[00:10:39] Let's see.

[00:10:43] Oh and combined with the leaves of wild poppy would dissolve boils good for broken bones and inflammatory tumors.

[00:10:58] Wow.

[00:10:59] And then he said also good against the bites of rodent spiders, centipedes and millipedes.

[00:11:05] And he goes on quite a bit more about figs.

[00:11:12] In fact he has a fig soap made with lye that would work for all kinds of skin issues.

[00:11:22] So that's pretty interesting use right there.

[00:11:25] Moving into around 1100, St. Hildegard of Benjen said that the fig tree is more hot than cold.

[00:11:33] And take its leaves and bark and pound them moderately.

[00:11:37] Cook this well in water and then make an ungent with bear fat and a little less butter.

[00:11:42] Well if you live where I do you can probably get bear fat.

[00:11:45] We have more bears than people.

[00:11:47] But I'm sure you could use hogs lard.

[00:11:50] Just plain old pork lard.

[00:11:52] Bear fat and pork fat are so very similar.

[00:11:55] Basically you can cook bear any way you would cook pork.

[00:12:00] It's just like a red meat pork.

[00:12:02] Actually if you've ever had heritage pork you know it is more of a red meat.

[00:12:07] It was I guess the 70s and 80s they really bred commercial pork to be the other white meat.

[00:12:13] Real pork.

[00:12:15] Real pork.

[00:12:18] There's no other way to say it.

[00:12:20] You know not the stuff raised in the what do they call them?

[00:12:24] Confined animal feeding units or something.

[00:12:27] I'm not saying the big hog farms that stink so bad that I try my best to boycott.

[00:12:32] Mainly because well I think they're disgusting and inhumane but they're also owned by mostly by Smithfield.

[00:12:38] Smithfield is owned by the communist Chinese.

[00:12:41] So you know I try not to support the communist Chinese and that means boycotting most of the pork industry in North Carolina.

[00:12:47] Which is entirely dominated by Smithfield pork.

[00:12:51] But yes pork and bear are very similar so I would just use that.

[00:12:55] She said if you have a pain in your head anoint your head with it.

[00:12:58] This is basically salve she's made with fig leaves and bark and lard.

[00:13:04] If your eyes hurt rub it in the temples around your eyes without letting it touch the inside of your eyes.

[00:13:09] If it's your chest that hurts anoint it.

[00:13:11] If your kidneys anoint them and you will be better.

[00:13:14] That's just you know wow that's a broad claim and definitely worth trying.

[00:13:19] However if it's wood is burned in fire and the smoke touches someone it harms them a bit and weakens them.

[00:13:24] I don't understand that but you know.

[00:13:27] If a healthy person wishes to eat the fruit he should first soak it in wine or vinegar so that its inconsistency is tempered.

[00:13:36] He should eat it but in moderation it is not necessarily for a sick person to temper it in this way.

[00:13:42] That's again people thought raw fruit was somewhat harmful hard to digest essentially.

[00:13:49] Fig soaked in wine is just a real classic preparation.

[00:13:55] The old cookbooks like Apicius the oldest cookbook we have from ancient Rome combined figs and wine and a little vinegar sometimes quite a bit.

[00:14:03] The Romans especially were big on what they call agrodolce sweet and sour essentially.

[00:14:10] If you like Chinese food with a sweet and sour sauce it's kind of that idea.

[00:14:15] Roman cooking combines sweet and sour in just about every meat dish.

[00:14:21] I mean seriously and in most desserts and usually spices like black pepper would be used with honey.

[00:14:28] I mean it's just really interesting combinations of flavors.

[00:14:31] I find it really enjoyable to try to recreate these ancient recipes and I am amazed how much the flavors of ancient Roman cooking are like Chinese food.

[00:14:43] I mean it just blew my mind.

[00:14:45] I mean they had their own fish sauce called garum which is just like you know Asian fish sauces.

[00:14:52] Like well they use a lot in Thai cooking and Korean cooking they always use fish sauces.

[00:14:58] You know sort of like a funky version of soy sauce if you want to look at it that way.

[00:15:03] Ancient Romans actually had their own fermented sauce that was much like soy sauce as well.

[00:15:08] And like I said they combined sweet and sour with a lot of garlic and onions, lots of bitter herbs and lots of pungent spicy spices.

[00:15:19] A lot of hot stuff really spicy stuff too.

[00:15:23] So I mean it's just amazing how much the cuisine of ancient Rome very very much like traditional Chinese cooking.

[00:15:31] Just kind of blew my mind.

[00:15:33] But anyway or Korean you know be very similar to Korean cooking as well.

[00:15:41] Gerard wrote of the figs, the dry figs do nourish better than the green or new figs.

[00:15:45] So move on from that.

[00:15:47] The English had their issues with raw fruit as well as we discussed last week.

[00:15:51] He said,

[00:16:07] Now hyssop is a hyssop and roux, well also two herbs used in Roman cooking a lot.

[00:16:12] But they were used medicinally in ancient England.

[00:16:15] They can have a toxicity especially roux.

[00:16:19] Neither should be used by pregnant women and you want to just research them before you use them.

[00:16:25] I don't think they're all that dangerous obviously.

[00:16:28] Now they can cause a miscarriage but for you know a non-pregnant person just a small amount used in food is the way I prefer to use them.

[00:16:38] Like I said in almost every single one of the meat dishes prepared in ancient Rome it had roux in it as a bitter herb.

[00:16:47] And that's quite good I think.

[00:16:49] But you know my taste tend to run more toward bitter.

[00:16:53] You know I like dark chocolate and coffee and you know bitter things.

[00:16:58] So he said figs, okay we said mixed with hyssop and decoctioned drunk.

[00:17:05] Fig stamped with salt and roux and the kernels of nuts withstand all poison and corruption of the air.

[00:17:11] King Pontius called Mithrodites used this preservative against all venom and poison.

[00:17:19] Now we've talked about this before previously when we were talking actually about bitters formulas.

[00:17:25] And the Mithrodites was a cure-all for all poisons.

[00:17:29] This is you know just going back several thousand years ago when if you're a king everybody was trying to poison you to take your kingdom.

[00:17:37] And they had food tasters and all that.

[00:17:39] He did horrible experiments on hundreds or thousands of prisoners finding antidotes for every single poison and venom snake or insect venom known to man.

[00:17:54] And came up with Mithrodites.

[00:17:59] There's another name for this right on the tip of my tongue.

[00:18:02] Anyway it's the ancestor to boy that's right on the tip of my tongue.

[00:18:07] You know being that show and it's in my book if you have my book Herbal Medicine for Preppers you've got the recipe actually.

[00:18:14] The great Swedish bitters of course is my favorite of these formulas.

[00:18:18] The theory act here it came to me theory act theory act was used as a remedy a cure-all well into the 1800s.

[00:18:28] I mean tried and true if you had the flu you got theory act.

[00:18:33] If you had just about any disease one of the first things a doctor would try was theory act which was an adaptation of the Mithrodites that King the King of Pontius came up with.

[00:18:46] So that's you know really fascinating herbal history and you know Rue's part of that.

[00:18:51] And apparently so was Figgs and Nuts.

[00:18:55] Figgs stamped and made into the form of a plaster with wheat meal the powder of fenugreek and linseed the roots of marshmallow applied warm do soften and ripen in costumes.

[00:19:07] Flegmands and hot angry swellings and tumors behind the ear.

[00:19:12] These are basically boils and such.

[00:19:15] If you add there to the roots of lilies it ripeneth and breaketh in costumes that come in the flank.

[00:19:26] And those that lurk in secret places.

[00:19:31] So these would be like essentially boils around your genitals and such so you want to get rid of those pretty quickly I'm sure it'd be quite painful.

[00:19:39] Figgs boiled in warm wood wine which we now know as vermouth.

[00:19:44] Warm wood wine that's St. Hildegard came up with that one.

[00:19:47] That's her bitters recipe that's vermouth that we use in martinis.

[00:19:53] If you drink a real martini I don't know that anybody actually drinks real martinis these days.

[00:19:58] We got all kinds of nasty syrupy sweet apple teenies and dirty martinis with salt water in them and just a shrimp or something.

[00:20:09] You know seriously a good old fashioned martini like they used to enjoy in the 20s and such is a darn good drink.

[00:20:17] Dry vermouth, little bit of gin or vodka if you like but really gin is far more traditional.

[00:20:23] It began as a cold remedy literally the gin has juniper berries in it and usually some other herbs.

[00:20:32] The vermouth is a warm wood wine and with many other herbs and that combination just like gin and tonic the English came up with it for dividing its malaria.

[00:20:44] Well a gin martini, a real martini made with just gin and dry vermouth is actually a darn good cold and flu remedy.

[00:20:54] Believe it or not don't overdo it but really much classier than the garbage that's sold in bars these days.

[00:21:04] Really much classier.

[00:21:07] Anyway so figs boiled in warm wood wine with some barley meal are very good to be applied as a plaster upon the bellies of the such as have dropsy or edema.

[00:21:18] Dry figs have the power to soften, consume and make thin and may be used outwardly and inwardly to soften impostumes to scatter and dissolve and consume them.

[00:21:28] The leaves of fig tree do waste and consume the king's evil and he describes it as the swellings of the kernels in the throat.

[00:21:37] Also called scrofula it's tonsillitis basically but any really glandular swelling in the throat was called the king's evil because I cannot remember the name of the king.

[00:21:52] He's actually a Catholic saint he was an English king and he was given the gift of being able to heal people by touching their throat.

[00:22:00] So very interesting that's how it got that name.

[00:22:04] The milky juice either the figs or leaves is good against the roughness of the skin spreading sores, leprosy, tatters, smallpox, measles etc. even freckles.

[00:22:17] Scurviness, deformity of the body and face mixed with barley meal and applied it doth take away warts and mingled with some fatty or greasy thing.

[00:22:26] So that's basically Saint Hildegard's beer fat recipe.

[00:22:32] The milk doth also cure the toothache if a little lint or cotton be wet therein and put into the hollowness of the tooth.

[00:22:38] It openeth the veins of the hemorrhoids and loosened the belly being applied to the fundament.

[00:22:44] The fundament is basically what do they call it? Paraneum if you want to look that up.

[00:22:52] It openeth the veins of the hemorrhoids we got that fig stamp with the powder fenugreek and vinegar applied plaster wise to ease the intolerable pain of hot gout especially gout of the feet.

[00:23:05] The milk thereof put into the wound proceeding of the biting of a mad dog or any other venomous beast preserveeth the parts adjoining and taketh away the pain presently and cureth hurt.

[00:23:28] Fig stamp was used as a cure for a bite from a rabid dog. I don't really believe in herbal cures for bites from rabid dogs.

[00:23:38] I think you get bitten by a rabid dog go to the hospital as quickly as possible.

[00:23:42] Get the rabies shot but of course if we couldn't get to the hospital it's worth a try.

[00:23:50] The green and ripe figs are good for those troubled with stones of the kidneys.

[00:23:56] Good for kidney stones. Dried figs good for the belly cough and infirmities of chest and lungs.

[00:24:03] They scour the kidneys and cleanse them forth.

[00:24:07] I can't even say it the way he does in Old English.

[00:24:11] Again, good for urinary stones and gravel.

[00:24:16] They cause women with children to have an easier delivery if they be fed thereof for certain days together before their time.

[00:24:24] Don't know if it's true or not.

[00:24:28] We also say it would help bring down the menses and coalpepper about a hundred years later said,

[00:24:35] The milk that issues out of the leaves and branches where they are broken being dropped upon warts takes them away.

[00:24:41] The decoction of the leaves is an excellent good wash for sore heads.

[00:24:45] And there's scarcely a better remedy for leprosy than this.

[00:24:49] It clears the face of morphia in the body of white scurfs, scabs and running sores.

[00:24:55] If it be dropped in old fretting ulcers it cleanses out the moisture and brings up the flesh.

[00:25:01] He says because you cannot have the green leaves all year make an ointment of them while you can.

[00:25:06] The decoction of the leaves rank inwardly or syrup made dissolves congealed blood caused by bruises or falls and helps the bloody flux.

[00:25:14] The ashes of the wood made into an ointment with hogs grease helps chill blains.

[00:25:20] The juice being put into the hollow tooth eases pain.

[00:25:23] Okay, we're getting to same thing over and over.

[00:25:27] Yep, yep, yep. Let's skip ahead. Oh good for the lungs, coughs, hoarseness, shortness of breath, dropsy and falling sickness which is what they call epilepsy which we discussed earlier.

[00:25:38] Getting up to more modern use 1930s.

[00:25:41] Miss Grieve gives a lot of history about figs and mythology and history and how they came to be cultivated in England and etc. etc.

[00:25:52] So we'll skip to medicinal uses.

[00:25:55] The figs are used for their mild laxative action are employed in the preparation of laxative as confections and syrups usually combined with Senna.

[00:26:05] It is considered that the laxative property resides in the saccharin juice of the fresh fruit and the dried fruit probably due to the fiber essentially.

[00:26:13] The three preparations of figs in the British pharmacopoeia are syrup of figs a mild laxative suited for children, aroma tea of syrup of figs and elixir of figs and sweet essence of figs.

[00:26:26] So they actually had four syrups that were actually in the official pharmacopoeia of England that were all laxatives.

[00:26:39] The compound syrup of figs is stronger preparation and that was combined with syrup Senna and rhubarb.

[00:26:47] So yes it would be a good laxative.

[00:26:49] She talks about how the sap would help remove warts and talks again about how it could be used for abscesses and boils and different things.

[00:27:06] She gives a couple of great recipes for fig jam.

[00:27:10] I mean you know I love jam on homemade sourdough bread butter and jam and honey and I mean that's like you know I don't have a big sweet tooth.

[00:27:19] I go crazy about homemade bread with butter and jam or honey.

[00:27:23] That's just that's my thing or molasses molasses are so good very underrated and believe it or not most people who have diabetes can tolerate molasses.

[00:27:33] Much better than any other natural sweetener except stevia maybe you know but molasses doesn't spike the blood sugar.

[00:27:41] So if you're interested in that ask your doctor about it and do your own research.

[00:27:45] I'm not recommending anything but most diabetics can tolerate molasses whereas they can't sugar or honey or jam you know.

[00:27:54] So 1898 King's American Dispensatory we'll see how they were used in America.

[00:28:01] Figs are nutritive emollient which means and softening so softens the skin.

[00:28:07] Emollient and demulsant they are parent and are used in to flavor gruel and used in the coxins.

[00:28:16] Roasted or boiled applied as a poultice to gum boils abscesses of the gums carbuncles etc.

[00:28:24] A poultice of dried figs and milk will remove the stench of cancerous and fetid ulcers.

[00:28:30] Wow and getting up to modern use.

[00:28:33] Plants for a future says of figs a decoction of the leaves is stomatic.

[00:28:38] The leaves are also added to boiling water and used as a steam bath for painful swollen piles that's hemorrhoids.

[00:28:43] The latex for the stems is used to treat corns, warts and piles.

[00:28:47] It also has an analgesic effect against insect stings and bites.

[00:28:51] The fruit is mildly de laxative, demulsant, digestive and pectoral.

[00:28:55] That means good for the chest.

[00:28:57] The unripe green fruits are cooked with other foods as galactogonic tonic.

[00:29:00] That means it increases mother's milk and tonic was good for digestion.

[00:29:04] The roasted fruit is emollient and used as a poultice in the treatment of gum boils, dental abscesses etc.

[00:29:11] Syrup of figs made from the fruit is well known effective genolaxative and is also suitable for the young and very old.

[00:29:18] A decoction of the young branches is an excellent pectoral and the plant has anti-cancer properties.

[00:29:24] Finally a physician's desk reference for herbal medicine.

[00:29:27] This is what a doctor uses when you ask him about an herb.

[00:29:30] He's going to look in it and see if it's safe and if it contraindicates with your medicines or anything.

[00:29:35] Here's a brief entry.

[00:29:37] It says fig preparations are used as a laxative.

[00:29:40] In China figs are used for dysentery and enteritis.

[00:29:43] No health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction with proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages.

[00:29:49] So of course figs don't grow everywhere.

[00:29:53] I'm at too high an elevation.

[00:29:55] I think there is one variety of fig that was bred in Chicago that I haven't tried growing.

[00:30:02] It probably would do okay in the mountain, but they'll grow most anywhere in North America.

[00:30:09] Maybe not Alaska.

[00:30:11] I don't know.

[00:30:13] But they're good drought tolerant plants.

[00:30:17] They do well in hot and dry areas.

[00:30:20] Very pretty small tree.

[00:30:22] You can keep it trimmed to size on a bush so it really should work into any landscaping.

[00:30:26] And I think they're fantastic.

[00:30:28] Very few people these days have ever even eaten ripe figs because they're such a soft fruit.

[00:30:33] They don't ship well.

[00:30:35] You can't get them to the market in time before they start to turn.

[00:30:39] So unless you grew up around a fig tree, you may not have had a fresh fig.

[00:30:44] And like I said, I think they're fantastic.

[00:30:46] I really do.

[00:30:48] So whether for medicinal uses or another adding more food to your arsenal to survive, there's got to be a better word for that.

[00:31:01] Anyway, as a food plant or as a medicinal plant or as a nice ornamental,

[00:31:07] it's going to work well on your property if you live where you can grow figs.

[00:31:11] And highly underrated fruit.

[00:31:13] I'm telling you, most people don't realize how good figs are.

[00:31:17] I especially love fig jam.

[00:31:19] And you should at least be able to find that in the grocery store even if you don't live where you can get fresh figs.

[00:31:24] So anyway, y'all have a great week and I will talk to you next time.