When you eat figs, you’re eating more than fruit. You’re eating a very sweet piece of history, as fig trees are thought to be among the first plants domesticated by man. In fact, archaeologists have discovered fig fossils in the Middle East that date all the way back to 9400 BC. That was roughly the same time that rice was being domesticated in Asia, but at least 5,000 years before man began farming wheat.

Although people have been eating them for more than 11,000 years — even longer, according to some Bible scholars, who believe that Eve’s “forbidden fruit” was actually a fig instead of an apple — figs are hard to get tired of. So sweet that historically they were used instead of sugar as sweeteners, they’re just as versatile as they are old. They can be eaten fresh or dried, for instance, turned into jam, paired wonderfully with savory cheeses, breads and olives, or baked with nuts into sweet cakes, pies, tarts and pudding. They make fantastic cookies, too. Just ask Nabisco, which makes everyone’s favorite form of fig: the Fig Newton, which was named for the town of Newton, Mass., near the original Fig Newton factory.

Although they taste wonderful, fresh figs are hard to come by because they will not ripen off the tree and can therefore be picked only when they’re at their prime. Because they go bad quickly once they’re picked — they’ll only keep for two or three days in the refrigerator — fresh figs are typically only available from June until October near the farms where they’re harvested, most of which are located in the Middle East, the Mediterranean or, in the United States, California. Dried figs, on the other hand, are readily available and can be stored for up to a month at room temperature, or for as long as a year in the refrigerator.

Figs aren’t just delicious. They’re also interesting. Did you know, for example, that there are hundreds of different fig varieties, and that the fig is actually the fig tree’s flower, not its fruit? Did you know that fig tree sap is an irritant to human skin? Or that fig trees won’t grow unless a special insect, called a fig wasp, pollinates them?

Whether you’re a chef, a scientist or a historian, it’s fascinating stuff, and figs are fascinating food.