Figs for the Black Iberian Pigs

Besides the palm and the olive tree, the fig is the most important cultivated plant on Majorca. Originally the Majorcan fig trees came from Asia. As early as in the ancient world, sun-dried figs have been packed into boxes and brought to Europe by merchants. The fig tree is a kind of bush that can grow up to eight meters high and is characterised by a gnarled, twisted trunk and its deciduous leaves. There are about 139 different kinds of fig trees, which primarily differ in their kind of blossom. According to the blossom, figs are differentiated into the domestic fig and wild or goat figs.

Hippocrates had already recommended the consumption of figs in case of fever and in order to appease one's hunger and thirst during the fasten period. At his times, the archduke Salvator also used this plant for the purpose of fattening the Majorcan pigs. To this effect, the figs were dried and mixed with sea salt and carob flour in order to preserve the fruits. Two pigs were fed with about two hundred kilos of this food. Even though only some fig tree plantations still exist, the fig is still used for fattening occasionally, today.