I know I promised I would not write about Chatuchak plant market again in a long while. But when reader Ian Windsor wrote to ask where one could find fig trees in Thailand, I felt obliged to find out.
If Mr Windsor had gone to the agricultural fair at Kasetsart University during the first week of last month, he wouldn’t have asked me that question, for there were potted figs for sale there. And if I had taken the contact numbers of the nurserymen who sold the trees, there would have been no need for me to go to Chatuchak to find an answer to his question. Neither of us did, hence the trip to Chatuchak, the central market for plants as far as I am concerned, last Wednesday.
Usually I go to Chatuchak in the morning, before the sun gets too hot. This time around, I did not get there until 2.30pm. Needless to say, the summer sun was very hot, but this did not deter gardening enthusiasts determined to find new plants to grow. At one of the stalls selling fruit tree saplings, a young couple were buying a mulberry and a fig, known in Thai as maduea farang, among several others, to grow in their Min Buri home.
Yes, there are potted figs for sale at Chatuchak. The market is divided into lots, which the stall owners call krongkarn, and the fig trees are sold at Krongkarn 19 and Krongkarn 9 on the street leading to Gate 2.
Thailand has several indigenous species of fig (Ficus spp). In his book, Thai Plant Names, the late taxonomist Tem Smitinand lists 70 species and several varieties found in Thailand. Most are found growing wild in mixed deciduous and rainforests, where their fruit, known as syconium, serve as food for birds and monkeys. Several are grown as ornamental plants and trees.
For sale: Fig saplings at the Kaset Fair last month.
In Phuket the tiny syconia of Ficus fistulosa, locally known as look ching, is eaten with khanom jeen, or fresh vermicelli made from fermented rice. In other parts of the country the leaves of Ficus infectoria, known in Thai as liap, and the fruit of Ficus auriculata, or duea wa, are eaten with a spicy dip or cooked in curries. Most native figs, however, are inedible.
The edible fig is a Mediterranean species, Ficus carica, and its many varieties. Its history can be traced back to ancient times, with mentions in the Bible and other ancient writings. Thought to have been first cultivated in Egypt, it spread to ancient Crete and then, around the 9th century BC, to ancient Greece, where it became a staple food. The Greeks valued the fruit so much that they created laws forbidding the export of the best quality figs. The ancient Romans also revered the fig, which they regarded as a sacred fruit.
Ancient conquerors later introduced the fig to other regions of the Mediterranean, where it has been an important food crop for thousands of years. It was later spread to many other countries and today Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Iran, Morocco, Syria, the United States, Tunisia, Spain and Brazil are the top 10 producers of fig in the world, with Japan among the top 20.
The edible figs sold at plant markets came to Thailand by way of Japan. The trees I saw at the Kaset Fair were grown in Chon Buri, while the ones at Chatuchak’s Krongkarn 19 and 9 came from nurseries in Nonthaburi and Phichit, respectively.
During a visit to a friend’s garden in Nakhon Ratchasima, I saw fruit-bearing fig trees growing beautifully in containers. However, an orchard grower in Chanthaburi who planted 50 figs in his plantation lost all his trees to too much rain, which caused root rot.
Studies by the US Department of Agriculture found figs to be rich in calcium and dietary fibre, copper, manganese, magnesium and potassium, a mineral that helps to control blood pressure. It is a good source of Vitamin K, which boosts blood coagulation, and contains many antioxidants that help lower the risks of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Research also found that eating three or more pieces of fruit a day may ward off macular degeneration, the primary cause of vision loss in elderly people.
Fresh figs are not readily available in Thai supermarkets, however, so you may have to plant your own trees. Figs prefer hot, humid days and cool nights, but can adapt to Thailand’s conditions provided they are planted in soil with good drainage and get plenty of sun.
Figs may be planted in containers; large woven plastic baskets are the best as they provide good drainage. For the planting medium, use a combination of two-thirds loamy soil and one-third chopped coconut husk, compost and/or leaf mould and decomposed animal manure. Water daily or when the soil is dry to the touch. n
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