Underutilized Fruits – Common and Indian figs

Prague is a foodie heaven, mainly due to Czech's own agricultural production, but also due to imports from other EU countries. I can always find a nice diversity of fresh fruits and veggies from our local farmers' market, but sometimes even the supermarket multinationals surprise me by selling seasonal fruits e.g., the common figs and Indian figs. By the way, these underutilized fruits have nothing to do with one another. Indian fig is not a fig, although early plant scientists taxonomized it as one. It's a prickly cactus fruit, whereas common figs are grown in deciduous trees. Latter ones are native to, according to Nikolai Vavilov's Centres of Origin, the Southeast Asia from where they spread to Middle East and Mediterranean countries. Whereas the prickly cactus fruit is originated in Central America. Here in Europe, Sicilians grow these gorgeous fruits for their own consumption and exports. My favourite fruits.

The common fig (Ficus carica) 

Cactus fruit (Opuntia ficus-indica)

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