I'm volunteering at an organic farm and I just ate a bunch of super delicious tree ripened figs.. but my tongue burns REALLY badly right now, anyone know why?
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I'm volunteering at an organic farm and I just ate a bunch of super delicious tree ripened figs.. but my tongue burns REALLY badly right now, anyone know why?
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Replies
make sure the figs (or whatever) are really ripe ... and only eat as much as your body wants to have. listen to your reactions & stop eating as soon as it does not taste heavenly anymore or at the latest when you start to feel any slightest discomfort. some fruit, like figs & pineapple, give very strong signals!
Dr. Doug showed us how to eat them properly. Provided they are indeed ripe, touch the inside flesh to your lips and mouth first and then you can eat them and the skin won't bother you.
I've found that this only happens to me if they aren't fully ripe. Make sure they are nice and mushy when you pick them. I find that when the skin starts to get some little stretch marks is a good indication of ripeness.
Cool, I Learned something new today :)
Quote: "Psoralens are "phytoalexins" used by plants as a defense against fungi and insects"
The irritation is from the proteolytic enzyme bromelain or (protease). Protease breaks down the peptide bonds that join the amino acids in a protein. Raw pineapple, raw figs and papaya all have the proteolytic vegetable matter bromelain or papian (papaya proteinase) that are also used as meat tenderizers. It can be pretty painful if you overdue it so wait until the irritation is gone before eating more. Drinking fluids simultaneously and quick transit times in your mouth can minimize the effects.
When you get older the effects diminish. When I was little, raw pineapple gave me canker sores under my gums but not anymore. They don't even effect me now.
Once cooked the enzymes are neutralized. That's why canned pineapples won't irritate your mouth.
This was a very helpful post. Thank you! I found that the digestive enzyme in figs is actually ficain, but that is in the same family of proteases as bromlase (the family known as the cysteine endopeptidases, according to wikipedia:)
We can avoid the burning sensation by discarding the stem of the figs and the flesh nearest to it and by consuming only fully ripened figs. Yesterday, I got 1.5 lbs into a bowl of figs that I thought were all completely ripened, but I reached a point where my tongue burned so badly all of a sudden, I couldn't eat one more thing. I had no idea figs could do this, so thanks for the discussion, everyone! Now we know.
Actually, papaya is very mild on the mouth -my experience, at least-. This page even states that papain is a painkiller. And I never had problems with raw figs before, only recently, when I started to eat them with the skin (I always thought you had to peel them, but people at the market gave me one whole fruit to try, so I supposed it would be ok to eat the skin).
Agree on the pineapple, that stuff is nasty.
It's more of a dual action. Mucus and saliva protect you from the enzymes but if the skin or fiber rubs the saliva off your mouth. That part of your mouth is now exposed to the protein dissolving enzymes.
Nah, it's the skin.
one thing I've found that helps (ripeness is still primary) is to turn the figgie inside out, so that the skins are back to back and it's only the juicy innards that safely contact your mouth.
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