ABOVE: Ficus auriculatagrowing at the Sepilok Rainforest Discovery Centre at Sepilok in Sabah (Photo by Astrid Cruaud and Jean-Yves Rasplus) .
Two species of figs introduced to Borneo from Asia, Ficus auriculataand Ficus obpyramidata are often eaten on the Asian continent but have never become popular in Borneo. In both cases only the ripe female figs are eaten.
Despite the abundance of wildlife that feeds on wild figs in Borneo, Bornean figs are rarely eaten by humans. We list below the most common wild figs eaten by locals in Borneo.
Locals eat the unripe, female, figs of several dioecious bat dispersed fig species which ripen green including Ficus fistulosa, Ficus satterthwaitei, Ficus rosulata, Ficus nota and Ficus variegata. The figs are not cooked but chopped up as part of a sour salad known as “ulam” eaten as a side dish with rice.Ficus satterthwaitei. Only unripe female figs are eaten as part of a green salad.
Ficus hetropodaat Samboja Lestari, Balikpapan. Only the unripe female figs are eaten as part of a green salad.Despite the delicious looking appearance Ficus racemosafigs are normally only eaten when green and unripe as part of a side salad. The ripe red figs are edible but fibrous. Humans use them for fish bait.Ripe Ficus racemosa. Despite the delicious external appearance, the ripe figs are very fibrous and filled with fig wasps which makes then unpleasant to eat. In the fig above the fig wasps have just left as can be seen by the holes in the gall flowers.
Ficus callosa. In the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia the unripe figs of Ficus callosa have a reputation of being edible when cooked but I have never heard of these figs being eaten in Borneo.
Ficus montana leaves are edible when cooked and are frequently grown for this purpose in Java and occasionally harvested for this purpose from the wild in Borneo.Ficus grossularioides leaves are foraged from the wild and eaten cooked in Borneo.Ficus megaleia earth figs growing at Kipandi in the Crocker Range in Sabah. Photos by Linus Gokusing.The most delicious figs (for humans to eat) in Borneo are ripe female earth figs including Ficus malayana, Ficus uncinata and Ficus megaleia. However the ripe figs are quite small, and difficult to find !
Unfortunately the delicious Edible FigFicus caricais very difficult to grow in Borneo’s ever wet climate.
