Balart… Fig…

Like grapes and pomegranates, the fig is one of the first fruits of Anatolia. It is an ancient fruit. Its origins go back a very, very long time. Traces of it have been found dating as far back as 4000 BC. 

As the fig tree begins to wake up in the spring, meaning it starts to leaf out, the fig fruit buds also begin to appear. Once they grow a little, some of them fall off. There are two large fig trees in my neighbor's garden. Towards the end of June, they start to drop. A lot of them fall onto my lawn. I collect them once a week. In fact, my wife and my neighbor were complaining at the beginning of the summer, saying, "I think we watered the fig tree too much, that's why it's dropping its fruit." Those hard, green, unripe fig fruits—the male figs—are collected before they fall and made into jam. It is called "male fig jam" and is one of the special fruit jams. I recommend it to those who love jam. 

The remaining, pollinated figs are picked by twisting them slightly once they ripen on the branches and are eaten fresh. These days, the fresh figs we see on roadsides and at stalls are called "balard/balart" in our Fethiye region. It is widely used among the public from Aydın to Antalya. It is accepted as a honeyed fig. Although it is called "bardacık" around İzmir and Manisa, there is a small difference between balart and bardacık. When the bardacık ripens, white lines and cracks form on the fruit, running down from the neck. Among the public, this is called a "crack" or "honey crack." It gives it a distinct beauty. It shows that the bardacık has ripened and become honeyed. 

If you ask which one is better, both varieties are excellent fruits. You cannot choose between them. Whichever you find, buy it and enjoy it. Do not peel the green skin. Do not throw it away. Just wash it and consume it fresh. Why? Because there is a substance called "ficin" in the milky sap adjacent to and just under the green skin. It is a very powerful probiotic. It has many benefits, such as increasing body resistance and strengthening immunity. I will explain it to you in detail in another article.

As the ripening process ends, the bardacık or balard, if the birds don't eat them, begin to droop their necks. During that period, we say they are "neck-bowed." If we collect and dry them, they reach the maturity of "dried fruit" and become one of the indispensable foods of the winter months.

The fig has many useful and economic values, both on the table and in industry. Without dragging this out further, I want to get to the point I really want to address. 

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı decided to plant fig saplings on August 30th in the land of figs, his homeland of Aydın, for a tree festival? A hole is dug in a suitable place, and the fig sapling is brought in a plastic pot. The Minister then lowers the fig into the hole with the plastic pot still on. I mean, he doesn't have an agricultural education background; he is a business graduate. Were there no administrators or experts with agricultural backgrounds accompanying the Minister? I don't know. Anyway, a villager warned the Minister, and the mistake was corrected. I hope that on this summer day, that sapling is watered so the fig grows and we can eat its balart or bardacık. 

When we look at the opening of schools and the curriculum, the Minister of National Education and the Ministry officials have a long way to go. I feel sad every time I look at the curricula. We say we are an agricultural country, but there is no sufficient agricultural curriculum. The Minister studied in schools in the city center of Kastamonu; how much connection and contact does he have with village life and villagers? 

He completed high school at the Istanbul Kadıköy İmam Hatip High School. It seems there was an elective agriculture course in the İmam Hatip High School curriculum, but it was only opened if there were enough students. 

He also graduated from the Department of Business Administration at the Bursa Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. I suppose he met "agriculture" only after becoming the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Still, we thank him for the fig sapling. A good choice.

While I leave it to the public's discretion whether the Minister is successful or unsuccessful, I want to end my lines with "merit." Merit (competence) means that a person possesses the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience required for the job or task they will perform, meaning they are worthy and sufficient for that duty. 

With the longing for years when merit was effective...

For those who care about their health, do not neglect to eat a balart or bardacık, that is, a fresh fig, after meals, especially these days. 

Wishing you many healthy and merit-based days...

Prof. Dr. Nurettin DEMİR