Unripe climbing fig fruit is much maligned in English. Photo by Green Deane
If there is one thing about the Internet that squeezes the sap out of me it is how mistakes proliferate rather than get corrected. I have ranted about that several times in many articles so there’s no need to vent that botanical spleen again except to say the Ficus pumila has been added to the got-it-wrong list.
Climbing figs ready for processing
Nearly every site in English will tell you the fruit of the Climbing Fig, Ficus pumila, is not edible (aka Ficus repens, Creeping Fig.) A couple of sites even scream it is toxic (and warn you about spines it does not have.) I will agree the Climbing Fig is not high on the edibility list and barely squeaks in. But, with proper preparation it can produce an edible product that is very popular in Asian countries. It is not toxic. It does not have spines.
I first saw Creeping Fig in Tampa a few years ago at an outdoor restaurant in Ybor City, that town’s Latin Quarter. It was successfully climbing several brick walls which is that fig’s particular claim to fame. It climbs. It will also ruin any wooden structure it climbs on so a lot of folks also don’t like it because of that. However, give it the right environment and materials and you will soon have a living wall that does produce a food. What is that food?
Typical fig display of seeds inside the fruit
There are two species of the fig and while processed in a slightly different manner, the end goal is the same. The fruit is picked ripe, put in a porous bag, then squeezed. The resulting juice is cooked then cooled into a gelatinous jelly. It is mixed with water, or syrup and flavorings — usually lemon — to make a refreshing drink. Or it is served as a cooled gel, like “jello.” Many Asian markets sell the canned jelly under the name “Grass Jelly” or “Ai-yu Jelly.” A second species, really a variety, Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang is slightly different. Called the Chinese Jello Vine or Ai-yu-tzu, its fruit is sometimes eaten out of hand. Or, turned inside out when not quite ripe, dried, then the seeds are mixed with water to again get a gel used the same way as its relative.
Aiyu jelly ready to eat
Who discovered the fruit makes a jelly is unknown but there is a traditional story. In the 1800’s a businessman stopped at a river to get a drink and noticed a yellow gel in the water which he tired and liked. He noticed figs nearby dripping liquid into the river. He then delegated his daughter, Aiyu, to figure out how it was made and sell it. After she was successful he named the jelly and the plant after her. Nice guy. Almost a cute story. Would you taste a yellow gel you found floating in a river today? Or then?
Ficus (FEE-kus) is Dead Latin for fig. Pumila (POO-mil-ah) is Dead Latin dwarf. Repens (REE-penz) is also Dead Latin for creeping, or recent, but with plants it usually means creeping. Awkeotsang is anglicized Chinese for the vine. The Jelly is called “Aiyu.”. There is at least on cultivar, called Minima, which has small leaves. Species is sometimes wrongly called Ficus scandens.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Climbing Fig
IDENTIFICATION: Ficus pumila: Vigorous, self-clinging, evergreen vine. Holds to any surface with aerial rootlets. Ovate leaves are heart-shaped, juvenile foliage, half-inch long, much lager in age, two three inches long, sticks out from vine. One variety has an oak leaf shape. A common landscape vine in tropical, subtropical areas, to feet or more. Very pronounced venation on underside of leaf. Two distinct leaf types: juvenile foliage is very small and tend to hug wall, or trellis that it is growing on. Hairy pear-shaped fruits to 2.5 inches long may appear on outdoor plants throughout the year. Potted plants rarely fruit. Fruit purple when ripe. It can cover a fence to the point it looks like a shrub or a hedge completely hiding the fence.
TIME OF YEAR: All year long but locally they favor the fall but can be found in late spring.
ENVIRONMENT: Likes full sun and something to climb on. Do not over water. Where I’ve seen it growing it only gets rain water.
Fig is turned inside out and allowed to dry some
METHOD OF PREPARATION: With Ficus pumila the fruits are squeezed in a porous bag and the liquid cooked. With Ficus pumila var. awkeotsangthe nearly ripe fruit is tuned inside out and allowed to dry for a few days. The seeds are put in porous bag which is put in water and rubbed. The seeds release a gel which takes a few minutes. The gel is allowed to set in a cool location. There cannot be any grease in the jelling pan or sugar. Distilled water cannot be used and the seeds should not be rubbed so hard they break. The jelly usually served with honey and lemon juice but can also be used to flavor shaved ice. The gel will not dissolve in hot water, thus it is sometimes added to various dishes.
HERB BLURB
What this abstract means, I think, is that adding the jelly to a fermenting must reduced the alcohol production.
Crude pectinesterase (PE) inhibitor (PEI) extracted from jelly-fig achenes (JFA) (Ficus awakeosang Makino) was added to carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) puree to determine the change in methanol production during fermentation. Addition of pectin or microbial pectic enzyme to puree increased dose-dependently the methanol content in fermented products. Decreasing ratio (from 1:0 to 1:19, v:v) of pectic enzyme to diluted crude PEI solution in the puree−enzyme mixture decreased the PE activity remarkably. Except for transmittance (%T), addition of crude PEI to puree did not affect apparently the physical and chemical properties of wine; however, it reduced methanol content in the control from 256 to 58 ppm. The degree of esterification (DE) of pectin in starting puree was 
70%. It decreased to 27% in the control group and reduced slightly to 67% in fermented puree with crude PEI added after 14 days of fermentation. This reveals that crude PEI solution was potent in inhibiting intrinsic carambola PE activity and appeared to be a potential alternative for methanol reduction in wines
Wonderful article. A friend and I found this vine and its fruits on a brick wall while walking around in her neighborhood. We took pictures of the vine and its fruit (both inside and outside), fascinated by its appearance, but tossed away the fruit because we didn’t know it was edible. We might get some cuttings next time, but are worried that since they were growing in a posh neighborhood, that they might have been sprayed with pesticides. How long can a plant store pesticides in its tissues?
New growth should not be affected.
I wish I had found your site earlier this year, I had fruits for the first time, what a surprise!, and everything I found online said they were toxic or not edible. I threw them all away. Dang!
I’m near Houston so my climate should be similar to yours. I am enjoying your videos too and learning a lot.
Angela,
I live in Houston. I’ve been looking everywhere for this plant. Is it possible to get a cutting from you?
How might one purchase this creeping fig in the United States for growth in their yard?
Many nurseries sell it.
Home depot sells them, which is how I was able to identify it was the kind on our brick wall.
Home Depot is where I bought mine in the Charleston, South Carolina area.
Thank you for your,as usual, pertinent information…I have a vine growing on my wall and I really think it’s pretty but last year I did read that the fruits are poisonous. I left them alone and this year it’s really got a lot of fruit on it. Nice to know they are edible.. thank you
Is this is an evasive plant? I have some in a grenhouse as a specimen.
Extremely, horribly invasive but green and beautiful. I have been trying to get rid of it for years halfheartedly off course. But I did not know about the fruits.
This vine is growing fast and weighing down limbs, it’s choking my 150 year old pin oak. How do I destroy it
Thanks for writing but that is not my area of expertise. I know how to grow them, not get rid of them.
Try pruning it rather then destroying it.
It’s climbing roots are not kind to wood.
Cut it down from the base, and dig up the roots. Or just keep cutting the plant down from the ground. Eventually you’ll deplete the energy stored in the roots and it should die back.
Found these fruit growing on my wall and was not shocked, but surprised! Glad to know the truth about the fruit!
But my dog eat some of these fruits and became sic…he has nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain
I just moved to Houston and I have these in my yard. It has taken over a huge pine tree and has been dropping 100+ fruits a day. My dog has been eating them, but he hasn’t gotten sick. My landlord doesn’t seem concerned, about the growth, but could it kill the pine tree over time?
They get quite large and heavy. If it were my pine tree I would be concerned and trimming.
What started as a 4 in. pot of this small leaf vine has all but killed a very mature pine in my front yard. Three large limbs have already broken off, but remained attached by the very strong vines that are now up to 1 inch in diameter. The vines overlap as they grow up and “join” making it next to impossible to kill it by even cutting foot wide sections away. I thought I had done enough damage by cutting away most of the vines around the tree last year, but enough lived and it’s bigger than ever. I cleaned up a large yard waste bag of the so called fruit today just so I could mow the grass. I am not a fan and feel that Home Depot should stop selling such a nuisance plant. It will cost a grand to remove the tree if I can’t save it.
This fig does have a dark side. Imagine what it does to buildings.
Poison Ivy spray might do the job of getting rid of it.
My dogs LOVE these…to me the ripe ones smell like kerkey treats so I imagine that’s why. They haven’t been sick and I’m about to give.up the fight…any advice ?
Thanks for letting us know some dogs can tolerate some of them.
Hi,
Thx for the site it helps a lot. I’ve read online but don’t trust that all fig fruit is edible and non toxic, Is it true?
There are serveral figs in the area, and am trying to figure out how to identify them.
Several things which are not true figs can be called figs. Fruit in the fig family are usually edible but many times not palatable, the fruit of the strangler fig is a good example.
Thank you for the information. Wish I discovered your site earlier on . I’ve never seen the plant in RSA. Might be supprise hey? Greetings.
It definitely exists – and thrives – in RSA, Annatjie. Ours occupies our inner courtyard walls and makes for a beautiful, fruity sight. It’s July now and covered in fruits. Not sure I’ll bother prepping them, though. Live in KZN. Only fruits on the sunny walls.
Hmm…the other day I went to pick the figs with my classmate. It triggered her eczema. There’s was some milky fluid on top of the fruit when I picked it from the vine. The insides of the fruit was dark pink, it smelled nice but I was skeptical of eating it. So I left it on the ground, I came back about 30minutes later and saw ants crawling in the fruit. My school is in Singapore and they sell aiyu jelly in the cafeteria 🙂
My vine has figs that are yellow right now. When will they be ripe? Can I eat them straight off the vine? Can they be dried and eaten?
I agree it is very invasive. Good to prune it as needed. But I am grateful that it has totally covered a plain block wall in 3 years. And this was from just a little bit growing on the other side of the wall.
They are ripe when yellow but they are NOT eaten. Thye are not dried an eaten. As I say in the article it is the liquided squeezed from the fruit that is edible.
Very much like to promote the indoor Plant Ficus Pumila Figs… the creaping plant, as i have a promoter of New Plants your details above are very much useful to me, i will promote this indoor plant all over Indian States, as Cement Concrete buildings will omit Heat most of the Flates, Office Buildings, Houses,others, send me more and more scientific details about Ficus Pumila Figs that will be benifited to all.
Haven’t seen Ficus pumila fruiting here in NZ (will watch more closely), but do have F. dammaropsis, grown for its large corrugated leaves. We don’t have the necessary wasp here for pollination, but I’m wondering if the large unpollinated fruits have any use?
I’m in Hamilton, NZ. I have the Ficus pumila covering an old wall/fence and it has figs. I agree it is very vigorous, but we keep it well trimmed back and under control. I never water it and it looks great all year round.
Livermore, CA
-Ficus Pumila (FP) has completely covered our driveway wooden trellis for 10 years.
-Prune it away from the house walls due to damage of leftover FP suction pieces unless you want wall covered with FP.
-Grows quickly, must be pruned regularly, attaches to anything it touches, beautiful green crawling vine, produces fruit fig pods.
-Our dogs have had no ill effects to having eaten them.
-Looking forward to creating an edible dish or drink.
Hi Fred,
I would love to see a photo if you have one to post or share. I’m looking for a plant to grow or some fruit pods to obtain the seeds. Feel free to email me directly if you like. If it grows so quickly, I presume propagation should be fairly simple? Does it appear to have roots along the vines like trumpet vine or boston ivy, or does it have tendrils like kiwi and passionfruit?
Thanks,
Effie
I am luck from parents, some big (30 ft) high creeping fig climbing the old trees.
The birds more luck than me , they get free and healthy meal.
Can I plant the seeds and grow more ivy
Yes…. but cutting might be quicker.
Hi,
Thank you for your fascinating and informative website.
I’m in search of Ficus awkeotsang Makino achenes, specifically the Makino variety, not the creeping fig from Armstrong nurseries or Home Depo. Would anyone know where I can find this specific variety in the US? It is very prevalent in Taiwan where they do scientific research on its polymerizing characteristics. The paper you cited Pectinesterase Inhibitor from Jelly-Fig (Ficus awkeotsang Makino) Achenes Reduces Methanol Content in Carambola Wine was one of many.
Sincerely,
Effie
We have this growing naturally on our wall in Huntington Beach California among some palms and pine trees . It’s been growing for over 20 years. Email me and I can send you a picture.
Hi Michelle,
Great to hear from you. I was in Taiwan at the time of your post, (and haven’t been back to this site since then; sorry for the delayed response). I was able to see the aiyu jelly being made in the street markets. Very cool!
How exciting to hear that you have one of these plants! I’d love to see a photo of your 20+ year old plant. My father is the real gardener who is looking for the plant. He lives in Carlsbad CA, so his climate (like Huntington Beach) would probably be suitable for growing it too. Do you think there might be a possibility of getting a cutting or some seeds from your plant?
I look forward to hearing back from you,
Cheers,
Effie
Hi Michelle! How special that you have access to the Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang plant. To confirm, is it certain that your plant is the variety that yields 3″ fruits with seeds that congeal in cold water? If so, would you be willing to donate a clipping or two? Thank you!
I almost cut mine down, it was supposed to be creeping fig! Found figs much surprised I’m in Ca. Mine are almost black and ripe I think! The smell like coconut when cut
Hi Michelle, your email is not made public on this page. I live in HB and have seen many ficus pumila walls (literally right around the corner) but I haven’t found a var. awkeotsang yet. If you see this message please text 280-5359 in the same area code as you.
Do you know if the fruit that is produced from the climbing fig is safe for dogs to digest?
Our youngest canine (under a year) is obsessed with picking them off our retaining wall vine and digesting them?
Thank you!
Have not heard of that plant being a problem to dogs.
Re: “The Jelly is called “Aiyu” as well as Pinyin”
Er, I think there may have been a misunderstanding in the translation process – “pinyin” refers to the romanized spellings of Chinese words (so for example, the pinyin for 愛玉 is àiyù)
I mean it’s possible I’m wrong and pinyin also happens to be a nickname for the climbing fig but I didn’t find anything about that when I looked it up so I think it was probably the mistranslation thing, or maybe a typo
Anywho, just wanted to bring that to your attention
I have a climbing fig as a hedge, it’s got lots of fruit on it now, don’t think I will attempt to eat them though , the roots on it are extremely invasive just like any other fig plant here in Australia…
One does not eat the fruit. It is the congealed juice that is consumed.
Love the one growing on my house. Entire plant Started out no bigger than my pinky and now covers the entire house! Cut our cooling bill here on the gulf coast where it gets unbearably hot in HALF!
Good day, can we grow ficus piluma from the fruits?
If they have fertile seeds, or from cuttings.
It is trying to take over my massive live oak tree, here in Monroe, LA (Northeast LA) We cut it back 2 years ago and thought it was gone, but it is back and when the arborist came to trim the trees, he used his chainsaw to try to remove it. Looks like it loved it. It just stopped dropping fruit all over the place.
I am so grateful to ID this plant. We are also in Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish, and my neighbor’s gorgeous live oak is being strangled by this vine, which drops many spongy, pear-like fruits. I have been going crazy trying to identify this mystery plant! Thank you for the information.
I disagree with claims that that this climbing (creeping) fig “ruins wooden structures”
I have had three plants climbing on wooden fences now for 15 years. Certainly if you pull the vines off, they will reveal that the timber surface has been spoiled by “glue” However, where the fig has penetrated through gaps or cracks in the timber, it has NOT expanded to damage the structure like many other climbers do. That is the remarkable thing about this climber – it squeezes itself down to a narrow dimension to pass through a gap, then expands on the other side. The small part stays small, so does no damage to the structure. I can provide photographs if anyone requests them.
Best wishes to you all.
Gary – Wellington, New Zealand
Thanks Gary for your comments about this fib climbing on wooden fences, I have a frame I would like to grow one up. My brother has discovered one growing in the garden of his new property which would have been planted years ago, it is covered with fruit so very keen to get cuttings and taste the fruit.
Linda Marlborough New Zealand
Est-il possible d’avoir les vertu de ce fruit en ce qui concerne la peau, le sang, les orgarnes… Les cheveux pourquoi pas, dans un article ou un rapport comme celui ci?
Merci d’avance, et merci pour cet article…?
We moved to a new house here in Queensland Australia, and I found this tree growing over our water tank. I cut the branches back 6 months ago and it has remained green even without watering it. It is covered in green fruit at the moment and was wondering about whether we could eat the fruit or not, now I know and I may try making the jelly from it. I will leave it growing over the tank as it will keep the water cool, but will just trim it each year to keep under control.
Thank for your information on this tree.
I have these at my home in Key West. They are extremely beautiful, friendly vines that definitely need to be cut often. Does the jelly taste like regular figs? Neither of my two dogs eats them! No interest at all
“What this abstract means, I think, is that adding the jelly to a fermenting must reduced the alcohol production.”
I don’t think so. It says “methanol”. Methanol is toxic. It is ethanol that is the desired alcohol of fermentation for drinks. Since ethanol is not mentioned, I gather that the production of ethanol is not changed, so reducing methanol improves the edibility of fermented products.
Recently moved to a home in Sunrise Florida that has this wonderful vine completely covering a 12 ft high stone privacy wall. Something I have noticed is that not one person has mentioned one of my favorite thingS about this plant. After the figs mature and fall to the ground, they begin to decompose and emit a beautiful fragrance. It’s very flowery and reminds me of hyacinths.
Hi Sheila, I live in Sunrise too and see these on the wall by Pine Island Road as I walk there every day. I agree about the fragrance.I am going to try and make some jelly as
seen in youtube videos . My channel is Robb’s Homemade Life.
Just thought I’d comment on the technical abstract you included. The extract of the Ficus inhibited methanol production by stopping the action of the pectinesterase (PE), this compound allows certain species of microbes to digest the pectin and produce methanol. This could be useful for people fermenting fruits high in pectin. It doesn’t indicate that it inhibits ethanol (drinkable alcohol) production. . .
This particular ficus is quite common here in Florida, and at certain times of the year, the forest floor can be littered with these fruit.
One of my neighbours entire brick wall is covered with this creeping ficus. It is always kept neat and tidy as they prune it regularly. The vines are more than 25 years old and such a beautiful sight. Though I love the look of it and can get cuttings easily, not sure if I want it growing on my wall if it takes a lot of effort to prune and keep it neat.
I live in Central Florida, and found these growing abundantly in my son’s neighborhood. At first, I thought they were some time of unusual guava. Thanks so much for identifying!
I have this vine growing along the side and brick wall around our house. The vine is actually coming from my neighbors home and has spread along 2 brick walls spanning 50 ft! It is green and pretty, dose bear fruit, but yes it grows like crazy! It must love the ocean climate here in Dana Point.
Great article I’ve been using snapshot for a week trying to figure out what this plant was. Weve had it growing on our fence along with two giant bird of paradise plants which seem to thrive along side one another, (besides the point) though it’s never beared any fruits until this year. We always thought it was a “smelly bush” or at least that’s what my step dad called it
when we planted it over 10 years ago!!! It was an exciting discovery when all of the sudden there was fruit growing on it though I was a bit worried about the chance of it being toxic to my lovable yet unpredictable housemates, a 10 year old human boy (a fairly common, like boy species whom posseses tornado like qualities) and the
4 yr old american staffordshire terrier ( an overly curious, elusive and stealthy canine species, relative to the pit bull and the garbage disposal) as they delight in putting everything they find in their mouths. That being the case I had some research to do and with every photo I entered I kept getting the Coco plum or some type of pear as a result. I wasn’t sold on either of those so today I decided to try a new angle and low and behold your article came up right away. Very informative and interesting to boot, Not to mention a huge relief to find out it isn’t a threat to my monsters. As it’s difficult really to know for sure if or how many they have already ingested. My only questions are, how long does it typically take this plant to destroy a wooden fence? It’s about 2″ thick and I believe it’s cedar wood? It’s been over ten years and it doesn’t look too bad. Second part is , when that starts to happen and I have to replace the fence, how do I preserve the plant and relocate or otherwise house it on the new fencing? And will it grow the same on a plastic or metal wire fence? I apologize for writing a novel for a comment, though honestly this is nothing. You should see my rendition of “small talk”. Thank you so much. Keep posting.
As only the sap is edible I would still not eat the fruit thought it is not reported as toxic. As for the fence…It just might be established enough to stand on its own by the time the fence rots.
I have made a pickle and conserve sweet with gingerroot. Also called Bor in some countries
Grass jelly and aiyu jelly have similar culinary uses, but are not interchangeable; grass jelly is not made with any kind of fig, but from a kind of mint.
I was able to identify this vine last week with the iNaturalist app. I’m trying to learn all the trees, plants, shrubs and “weeds” in my eldest daughter’s garden where I plan to plant food & edible flowers. I’m in Miami and this vine has covered one of the dividing walls from a neighboring townhouse community. I had not seen the figs last week and today I discovered several to my delight!
Thank you for confirming they are edible when prepared a certain way. I ate figs off trees in Perugia, Italy a few years ago in the fall and was hoping these were like the ones I ate there. Wishful thinking!
Hi Dean,
great article, as usual. Your site is my to-go place to look into edible non traditional plants.
I have the plant in my yard (Argentina, temperate zone) and been looking into this for a while.
Found the info about the Chinese use of the product but, if I got it right, it happens after the fig is polinized by a wasp of the area.
My fruits are not hairy, not sure if it’s the same variety. We don’t have the wasp either, so the flower fig never ripens (when you open the fruit it has the red velvety short female hairs all along the inner surface and the male ones on the base, instead of the long hairs reaching to the middle of the polinized one).
I’m also in a group in fb for edible weeds from my area. The lady that runs it made some tests, and some other people, me included also made some tests.
Here is the result: the tender green flower can be eaten treating it as green figs. Cutting in halves or slices (I chose thin slices), letting it seat in water at least 1 hour, throwing that out (gets a good deal of the milk). Boiling it for at least half an hour (some people says that liquid can be used, I haven’t yet). What’s left still gets another cooking. I covered the thin slices in new water and added about half of its weight in sugar. The recipe was: same weight of the three parts, fruit, sugar and water, and the juice of a lemon. I didn’t have lemon so I added about a table spoon wine vinegar instead. Also used a lot less sugar than the recipe called for. Then let it simmer until the water evaporated enough to make a syrup (about 3 hours). The result is a really good fig tasting fruit in syrup. Other people have also made a savory spread with it, and I think pickle. I tried the spread but didn’t like it (it was with the water of the first boil and cut in halves, so there is hope). Also next time I make it, I will try keeping only the inside of the flower after the first boil instead of the outside too, as it’s a lil bit hard–not too much (think orange peel in syrup), but want to test it without.
We decided to test it as a group after some conversations and research. The leaves have medicinal properties and the ripen fruit is edible. So the flower should be reasonably edible as well–as it often happens.
I just wanted to share the findings as I think there are many possibilities for this “fruit” and as you mentioned too much disinformation.
Of course, anyone should do their own research, etc.