Whether rich or poor, Egyptians are united in their love of barbary figs

Cairo’s fruit and vegetable vendors, a common sight in the city’s many districts, have begun selling one of their most popular summer fruits, barbary figs, a favourite among millions of Egyptians both rich and poor.

Known by several names worldwide such as prickly pear, cactus pear and also teen shoky, the fruit, which grows on a specific kind of cactus, is native to Mexico, though is also grown in other places around the world, including Egypt and North America.

In Egypt, barbary figs are grown predominantly in and around Minya, a rural province about 300 kilometres south of Cairo, because of its hot, dry weather. The area’s farmers wait for the fig’s harvest season all year, because of the high yield and relatively low maintenance required.

“Every farmer secretly has a crop that he likes more than the rest," says Reda, whose 10 feddans — a unit of area equal to about 0.42 hectares — in Minya’s Samalut suburb yield from 1,500 to 2,000 crates each harvest.

"For me, it’s teen shoky. It’s such an easy crop to get right. It doesn’t require that much work or attention at all and it yields large amounts each year.”

A crate typically holds between 20 and 25 kilograms of barbary figs.

The harvest season is an annual event for many more than Minya’s farmers. When driving through the narrow inner roads of the predominantly agricultural region, one cannot miss the rows of fig crates being sold at the many makeshift fruit stands set up for the short harvest season every year.

While the adults work to harvest the figs from their plantations, most of which are located deep inside the vast expanses of green agricultural land in the area, their children typically run the fruit stands in their absence.

“We have the sweetest figs in all of Minya,” Roqaya Abdo, 10, tells The National. Roqaya’s father owns several small plots of barbary fig cacti in Samalut, a suburb of Minya.

“My brothers and I pick them ourselves each morning but because I am the most responsible, I collect our profits and give them to our father at the end of each day.”

Fruit vendors who sell the figs in Minya and Cairo boast of the fruit’s health benefits, which include promoting good heart and bone health because of the high amounts of potassium and calcium.

Barbary figs are also known for their strong antioxidant properties which come from the fruit's high vitamin C and polyphenol levels.

“They are great for weight loss, it’s because they’re high in fibre which makes you feel full,” says Ramy Gerges, a vendor in the Cairo district of Heliopolis.

Each day, the figs make their way to Cairo and Egypt’s other major cities on large lorries that leave Minya and other provinces such as Qalyubia and unload at various fruit distribution points.

Some of the vendors also conduct private deals with the delivery drivers, who are often their relatives, to bring them the best figs of the haul at reduced prices.

“I am originally from Minya and my family owns some small teen shoky plots down there,” says Ramy. "During the harvest season, my brother brings me crates almost every day, right to where my fruit stand is. I have my fixed clients in the area where I work who have been buying figs from me for years now.”

Barbary figs are made up of a tough outer layer covered in small thorns that can cut the hands of those who are not used to handling them. When removed, the outer layer reveals a soft, watery flesh, which is the edible part of the fig. The outer layer is sometimes repurposed to make vegan leather products.

Because of the fruit’s prickly exterior, Cairo households usually buy them peeled, refrigerate them and serve them cold. Some vendors also have small fridges installed in their fruit stands so they can serve them cold to passers-by, offering a quick snack that can help people stay cool in the summer heat.

Ramy says: “I mostly sell them peeled. The thorns are small and can get under people’s fingernails or into their skin — nasty little pests."

Barbary figs are also full of small seeds which are often swallowed along with the flesh, however, eating around the seeds is somewhat tricky and Ramy says this can discourage some people.

“It takes a certain manoeuvre where the fruit is sucked slowly from around the seeds and then you can either swallow the seeds or spit them out," he says. "It’s always funny watching people eat them for the first time. They look kind of confused.”

Prices of the popular fruit vary greatly season-on-season and will often vary in the provinces and even different neighbourhoods inside Cairo.

At Roqaya’s roadside fruit stands, a crate of figs costs 60 Egyptian pounds ($3.10), which works out at about three pounds per kilo. In Cairo’s poorer neighbourhoods, a kilogram of barbary figs costs about 10 pounds.

“I sell a kilo for 15 or 20 pounds,” Ramy says. His mobile fruit stand is stationed in one of Cairo’s more affluent neighbourhoods.

Though they are mostly eaten fresh, the more avid fans of the fruit freeze batches of it, which they use to make smoothies and juice during the off-season.