Given that we’re not the greenest of fingered people (we even managed to nearly kill a jasmine which is quite a feat), we do seem to be extraordinarily good at growing prickly pairs. We’re going to have to take some action on one of them – unless it gets so tall that bits drop off it – as it is probably about 8 feet tall. They are nasty things, some farmers grow them as fences – I guess they serve the same purpose as natural barbed wiring, as they would be pretty painful to climb over.
It’s a shame they are such lethal things – I’ve seen a range of recipes, typically from Mexico and California, which use bits of prickly pairs in different dishes, however none of them mention the fact we need to wear gauntlets to prepare them. I wonder if Spanish prickly pairs are more nasty than Mexican ones…?