pitanya

English translation: maybe this helps

12:58 Oct 30, 2004
Catalan to English translations [PRO]
Food & Drink
Catalan term or phrase: pitanya
I visited the amazing La Boqueria market in Barcelona and saw a fruit with the (Catalan?) label PITANYA. It looks a bit like a red-purple mango with bits sticking out. Its flesh is deep purple with small dark seeds. I don't think I've seen it in England. Does it have an English name?
curiosity
English translation:maybe this helps
Explanation:
I don't know the English name but it is the fruit or flower of a plant called 'atzavara' ('agave americana'), just do a search on google images with it and you'll see, it's a sort of cactus.

Good luck! Did it taste good?
Selected response from:

Maria Rosich Andreu
Spain
Local time: 13:09
Grading comment
I'm not sure this is it. All I know is that it tasted really nice and I'd recognize it again, so maybe that's enough!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2maybe this helps
Maria Rosich Andreu
1prickly pear???
Sheila Hardie


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
maybe this helps


Explanation:
I don't know the English name but it is the fruit or flower of a plant called 'atzavara' ('agave americana'), just do a search on google images with it and you'll see, it's a sort of cactus.

Good luck! Did it taste good?

Maria Rosich Andreu
Spain
Local time: 13:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in CatalanCatalan, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 7
Grading comment
I'm not sure this is it. All I know is that it tasted really nice and I'd recognize it again, so maybe that's enough!
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
prickly pear???


Explanation:
From what you describe, it might be a prickly pear you are describing. You can a look at this reference and see if this is what you have bought.

However, I am a bit confused by the name - the fruit of the prickly pear cactus is known as 'tuna' or 'higo chumbo' in Spanish and 'figa de moro' in Catalan.

The word 'pitanya' sounds to me like it's related to the Russian verb 'pitats' (approximate phonetic transcription!) - to eat. The word 'pitanya' (phonetic approximation) means 'feeding' or 'nourishment' in Russian.

See for example:

http://www.prodpit.com.ua/eng/ad.html

The newspaper "Produkty pitanya" - The beginning
The newspaper "Produkty pitaniya"("Food stuff") is a unique specialized full-coloured
newspaper devoted to the market of food, drinks, food-processing ...
Descripció: Ukrainian twice-monthly publication devoted to the market of food stuffs, agricultural production,...
Categoria: Regional > Europe > ... > Industries > Food and Related Products
www.prodpit.com.ua/eng/ - 10k - 28 oct. 2004 - Còpia en memòria - Pàgines semblants
[ Més resultats a www.prodpit.com.ua ]

I don't think it's the fruit of the agave plant - the sap of the agave is used to make mezcal and the leaves are used for their fibre, but I've never heard of people eating or selling the fruit. I may be wrong though.

Century plant doesn't really take a century to bloom, but it does take 10 years or so in warm regions and as much as 60 years in colder climates. It dies after blooming (a condition called monocarpic), but produces offsets or "pups" throughout its life and these remain to continue the lineage.

The sap of century plant is used as a diuretic and a laxative. The juice of the leaves is applied to bruises and taken internally for indigestion, flatulence, constipation, jaundice and dysentery. Steroid hormone precursors are obtained from the leaves.

The flower stalk and heart of century plant are sweet and can be roasted and eaten. The seeds are ground into flour to make bread and to use as a thickener for soups. Pulque is a beer-like drink made from the fermented sap of century plant or (more commonly) the closely-related Agave salmiana. Tequila is distilled from the sap of blue agave (A. tequilana) and mescal is made by distilling fire-roasted agave. Mescal, with its distinctive smoky aroma, is often sold with a worm (actually the caterpillar of the agave moth) in the bottle. A company in California is marketing agave nectar, a sweetener made from the fruit of blue agave.

Sisal and henequen are fibrous twines made from the leaves of Agave sisalana and A. fourcroydes.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Agave




http://www.floridata.com/ref/a/agav_ame.cfm

HTH


Sheila


    Reference: http://www.desertusa.com/magoct97/oct_pear.html
Sheila Hardie
Spain
Local time: 13:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
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