Enjoy - and not a prickle in sight!!!!

I thought you were having hashbrowns there at first glance! :P how did they taste?

It is very sweet with a kind of vanilla taste and full of pips. Very pleasant.

Ok..it is almost dinnertime and you are making me very hungry!

I thought it was a mango...these are persimmons, right? or are they cactus fruit? (can't remember the proper name, sorry)

Lori, they are cactus prickly pears but I don't know their "real name" - I shall be going to Sicily next week and I shall probably see loads of them down there - I shall take my camera with me and hopefully be able to take lots of photos of Sicilian nature ..

Excellent....will watch your posts with interest!

oooh~ I saw loads of these when I was in Italy in Aug. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to taste them, but was informed by a local that the prickly pear ice cream is to die for.

Is there a way that you can tell if they are ripe Terry , I mean if I saw some in a supermarket would I be able to tell it was ripe enough to eat , A lot of fruit in this country isn't ripe enough when you buy it .., does it turn that yellow / red looking skin ?

You can usually tell by the colour (red/yellow) and the smell Amy - a bit like when you want to see if honeydew melons are ripe. Like I said before, it's important that they ripen in the hot sunshine and not as they're travelling for days in crates. By the way you'll see photos of them growing by the wayside, in photos I took when I was in Sicily. Let me know if you want me to find the page for you ....

Thanks Terry , this has made my plant much more interesting to me , I didn't know anything about them before ... I will be looking through your pics . I already feel envious of your beautiful sunshine ....

Thanks Amy - glad to have been of help !

:o))