The “Tree of Life” was the first “tree” actually given a title in the Bible, but the Fig has the honor of being the first ordinary tree named in the Holy Scriptures (Gen. 3:7) The honor is short lived, however, as we soon learn that the leaves of the fig tree were “sewn together” by Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness after their fall into sin! Time and again the fig tree is referred to in the Bible but is usually cast in a much more positive light! (Gen. 3:7; Luke 21:29; Mt. 7:16; James 3:12)

I had never tasted a fresh fig (nor seen one) until a dozen years ago when we moved to Jackson, Mississippi. In fact, Fig Newtons had been the sum total of my fig experience for 40 years! Then, in God’s providence, I walked out onto the small deck of our little manse in Jackson and was greeted by an unusual tree covered with some sort of very prolific small purplish-brown fruit hanging in the midst of large sculpted leaves!! Never hesitating when it comes to trying a new fruit, I popped one into my mouth and it was truly “love at first bite!” Imagine, then, how chagrined I was to have to leave this tree behind six years later. But in the extreme goodness of God, the house we moved into four years ago had a huge fig tree staring at us from the center of our back yard! Beyond “sharing the wealth” with other (somewhat rare) fig lovers, I was really at a loss to know how to preserve these delectable delights coming in at a rate of nearly 100 a day!! But one call to my Mama in Virginia and another to a dear older friend who has been making fig preserves for years and I was on my way to becoming something of a “fig sage” myself!