THE SMYRNA FIG from Turkey, long ago crowned best-tasting fig of all, was brought to California in the 19th century, where it failed until it was discovered that the plant needed a pollinator wasp to produce fruit. The wasps, from Turkey, were introduced into California fig groves and the trees started producing figs. The name was changed to Calimyrna—a combination of California and Smyrna. These tan-buff figs are mostly found dried but taste exquisite if you can find them tree-ripened and fresh.
Unlike most figs, which don’t require pollination, Calimyrna (and Smyrna) figs are pollinated by a rather bizarre method involving a tiny wasp, wild goat figs, and some good luck. The unripe, pear-shaped fig functions like a receptacle with a small hole in the end for the pollinating wasp to crawl in and out. Thousands of little flowers form on the inside walls of the fig receptacle; the wasp pollinates these flowers with pollen from the wild goat figs (which must have coevolved along with the Smyrna figs and wasps on Cyprus and Crete). The pollinated flowers form into tiny drupes, or bits of sweet fig flesh, each enclosing a miniscule, hard-shelled seed. The process makes the figs very seedy; other types of fig are relatively seedless.
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