EAT them while YOU STILL CAN!!!

In this video I am giving you yet another foodie reason to visit Cyprus!!! To try prickly pears of course!!! (shoefigs/ papoutsosyka) This humble fruit is amazing and totally underrated. However, papoutsosyka might not be around for many years to come. So come to Cyprus for the lovely weather, magnificent beaches and enjoy a cold shoefig while it is still possible!

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[nicoskefalas]

4 _Ibid_ .
5 My Big Fat Greek Wedding, (IFC Films, 2002).
8 Urs Eggli, ‘Conrad Gessner and the Early History of the Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica)’, in U. Leu and P Opitz (eds) _Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) : die Renaissance der Wissenschaften : the renaissance of learning_, (Berlin/Boston, de Gruyter, 2019), pp. 43-66 ; Giuseppe Barbera et al, ‘Past And Present Role Of The Indian-Fig Prickly-Pear (Opuntia Ficus-Indica (L.) Miller, Cactaceae) In The Agriculture Of Sicily’, _Economic Botany_ vol. 46(no.1), 1992, pp. 10-20.
9 Eggli, ‘Conrad Gessner and the Early History of the Prickly Pear’
10 Barbera et al, ‘Past And Present Role Of The Indian-Fig Prickly-Pear’, p.12 ; Eggli, ‘Conrad Gessner and the Early History of the Prickly Pear’, pp. 50-53.
11 Barbera et al, ‘Past And Present Role Of The Indian-Fig Prickly-Pear’, p.12.
12 Anonymous, ‘The Week’, _THE CYPRIOT_, 08 August 1900, (Nicosia, Cyprus), p. 2.
13 Giacomo Franco 1550-1620,
15 M. Moniruzzaman and R. Khatun et al.,
‘Mealybug (Pseudococcidae) infestation and organic control in fig (Ficus carica)
orchards of Malaysia’, _Biology & Environment Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy_, May 2017, p. 3.
_The Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland_, pp. 351- 362; Jodi Frawley, ‘A lucky break: contingency in the storied worlds of prickly pear’, _Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies_, 2014 vol. 28, no. 6, pp.760–773.
18 Moniruzzaman and Khatun et al.,
‘Mealybug (Pseudococcidae) infestation’.
19 Gregoriades, ‘Bug plague spreading’.

[RushWasABand]

They are called babutsa in the north of Cyprus. In Maltese they are "thorny". I ate a 6 pack today, so far.

So sad that most of those are dead due to disease in Kypros

[busimagen]

Coincidentally, I just finished eating a prickly pear/shoe fig before watching this video (I'm in Alaska). I have only had green ones, but I hope to find a ripe red one at some point. The flavor reminds me of watermelon.

[ozguroge]

During my childhood summers in Bodrum, it was the most magical rare culinary occasion for me. Whenever I see them in the farmers market, I would make my parents buy some, although they were trying to stop me every time due to their spikes:) I still get excited whenever I see them even decades later. (In Turkish, I think most people refer to it as just cactus fruit, or French fig)