“A hard nut to crack”in other languages

Same idea, different pictures

All three are tough food. English has the nut that resists the nutcracker, Italian the hard bone, un osso duro, and Portuguese the pineapple, prickly on the outside, that someone has to peel.

They lean in slightly different directions. The Italian one is mostly said of people who won't give in; the Portuguese one is about a nasty job, and descascar o abacaxi means being the one stuck with it. English covers both.