{"id":24856,"date":"2019-01-08T13:05:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T12:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/?p=24856"},"modified":"2025-11-18T11:36:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:36:30","slug":"sicilian-prickly-pears","status":"publish","type":"sapore","link":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sicilian Prickly Pear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sicily’s symbolic fruit<\/strong>, the prickly pear, is the full expression of what it means to live in this country: to adapt to different conditions, overcome thorny pitfalls and then savour unexpected sweetness.<\/p>\n

It’s found everywhere, depicted with its bright colours in typical landscapes and colourful carts, on the fine handmade ceramics<\/strong> by Caltagirone<\/a>, as well as on clothing, accessories, jewellery and even on pieces of furniture designed by the most famous fashion designers. It’s no coincidence it’s a perfect souvenir<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Prickly pears are not all equal and there are in fact three varieties, which are distinguished by their colour. The Sulfarina<\/strong>, the most widespread and least sought after, with its characteristic yellow-orange pulp and slightly floury consistency; the Muscaredda<\/strong> with its white pulp is a sweeter and crunchier variety; and, finally, the Sanguigna<\/strong>, distinguished by its red-violet pulp, is juicy and very sweet.<\/p>\n

Besides the variety, a quality distinction must be made between the first bloom<\/em>, which takes place between May and June, and the bastardoni<\/em>, which are the prickly pears that grow from the second bloom, from the end of September to November, are bigger, firmer and have a few less seeds in the pulp.<\/p>\n

The bastardoni<\/em> are preferred by Sicilians and can easily be found throughout the island. However, the most valuable ones come mainly from Belpasso<\/strong>, San Cono<\/strong>, Militello Val di Catania<\/a> and Piazza Armerina<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28304,"template":"","categories":[1928,1924],"luogo":[2963,1886],"stagione":[1874,1877],"class_list":["post-24856","sapore","type-sapore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-territorio-en","category-sapori-en","luogo-catania","luogo-etna","stagione-autumn","stagione-spring"],"acf":{"galleria":false,"paragrafo_1":"

The history of opuntia ficus indica<\/em>, the botanical name for the prickly pear<\/strong>, goes back to the fifteenth century, when it was imported into Sicily from Central South America.<\/p>\n

Its ideal habitat was found on the slopes ofMount Etna<\/a>, in the rocks and the volcanic soil until it became part of the classic Sicilian landscape.<\/p>\n

For years, it was considered a common, mediocre product, probably due to the plant’s wild vegetation, until 2003, when it obtained two PDO awards, the Mount Etna prickly pear<\/strong> and the San Cono prickly pear<\/strong>, which confirmed its quality and high nutritional value.<\/p>\n","titolo_paragrafo_1":"Detail","sottotitolo":"","localizzazione":"

<\/div>\n"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Sicilian Prickly Pear - Visit Sicily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The history of the prickly pear, goes back to the fifteenth century, when it was imported into Sicily from South Central America\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sicilian Prickly Pear - Visit Sicily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The history of the prickly pear, goes back to the fifteenth century, when it was imported into Sicily from South Central America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Visit Sicily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/visitsicily.info\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T10:36:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1471\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2017\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@VisitSicilyOP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/\",\"name\":\"The Sicilian Prickly Pear - Visit Sicily\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-08T12:05:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-18T10:36:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"The history of the prickly pear, goes back to the fifteenth century, when it was imported into Sicily from South Central America\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg\",\"width\":1471,\"height\":2017,\"caption\":\"Ficodindia - Ph. Fabio Cavasenna\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Flavors\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Sicilian Prickly Pear\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Visit Sicily\",\"description\":\"Island of art\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Regione Siciliana\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/regione-siciliana-logo2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/regione-siciliana-logo2.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Regione Siciliana\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/visitsicily.info\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/VisitSicilyOP\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ig_visitsicily\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/visitsicilyOP\/followers\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/siciliaturismo\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Sicilian Prickly Pear - Visit Sicily","description":"The history of the prickly pear, goes back to the fifteenth century, when it was imported into Sicily from South Central America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Sicilian Prickly Pear - Visit Sicily","og_description":"The history of the prickly pear, goes back to the fifteenth century, when it was imported into Sicily from South Central America","og_url":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/","og_site_name":"Visit Sicily","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/visitsicily.info\/","article_modified_time":"2025-11-18T10:36:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1471,"height":2017,"url":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@VisitSicilyOP","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/","name":"The Sicilian Prickly Pear - Visit Sicily","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg","datePublished":"2019-01-08T12:05:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-18T10:36:30+00:00","description":"The history of the prickly pear, goes back to the fifteenth century, when it was imported into Sicily from South Central America","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Pala-cavasenna.jpg","width":1471,"height":2017,"caption":"Ficodindia - Ph. Fabio Cavasenna"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/sicilian-prickly-pears\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Flavors","item":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/sapore\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Sicilian Prickly Pear"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/","name":"Visit Sicily","description":"Island of art","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#organization","name":"Regione Siciliana","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/regione-siciliana-logo2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/regione-siciliana-logo2.png","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"Regione Siciliana"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/visitsicily.info\/","https:\/\/x.com\/VisitSicilyOP","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ig_visitsicily\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/visitsicilyOP\/followers\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/siciliaturismo"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sapore\/24856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sapore"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sapore"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24856"},{"taxonomy":"luogo","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/luogo?post=24856"},{"taxonomy":"stagione","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitsicily.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stagione?post=24856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}