PRICKLY PEARS

Prickly pear cacti.  Around here they grow almost everywhere.
It is said that the first ones were planted by Venetians on Crete and on the Aegean islands.

They are easy to grow… even on a stone wall nearby a minoan site.

They provide fences for the Cretan olive groves.

And their fruits are delicious…

The best way to enjoy them? Eat them chilled.

Of course, peel them first, to remove the spines (Hold prickly pears down with a fork. Use a small sharp knife to cut off their ends, make incisions lengthwise down them and carefully peel the tough skin.)
In Greek they are called French figs (fragosyka), Paul’s figs (pavlosyka), soft figs (apalosyka), shoe figs (papoutsosyka).