It started with two of these that I picked up from the grass in my mom's neighbors' yard. I went over to their yard to see what the fence stuff looked like from their side and to get some of old cans to throw out with our big garbage pick up. Their back hill is mostly prickly pear as you can see in the picture below. Even though the one above is a bit bruised, it was fine inside.
The whole cactus is called a prickly pear and so is the fruit. You can see the red fruit mostly in the upper right. When you see the closer shots below, you can come back to this one and spot them easier.This morning I had two prickly pear fruit in the house and thought I'd throw them into the oatmeal. But first I checked the internet and got this ten minute video on how to prepare prickly pear. It's ten minutes long and could be edited, but it goes from picking the fruit to getting rid of the pricklers, to eating. [UPDATE October 2017 - I noticed the video was not working any more, so I've replaced it with another from YouTube.]
So with renewed confidence, I scraped off the glochids (prickles) and cut it in half. (When you look at the fruit, the round spots are glochids, clusters of tiny prickles. The individual prickles are nearly invisible. )
Here it is up close. I cut it up and added it to the oatmeal.
Some more pictures of the fruit growing on the cactus. Think about all the fruit growing naturally, without irrigation or fertilizer or even attention, that couldbe eaten instead of just rotting. Though I'm sure it feeds lots of birds and other critters. And in Mexico and other places it is part of the diet.
Some species of prickly pear cactus were introduced into North America from tropical America a number of centuries ago. The fruit of these cultivated prickly pear cactus is a common delicacy in Mexico and is sold in markets as "tuna." While all prickly pear cactus are of the genus Opuntia, the non-native Opuntia megacantha is one of the tastiest and most popular. Some native species, especially those with dark purple fruit, are not as flavorful. (from Desertusa.com)
And for Alaskans, I learned one more use for duct tape - to get the prickly pear glochids out of your skin.
Not just the fruit gets eaten. Young prickly pear pads, called nopales, are commonly used in dishes in Mexico and the southwest United States. When sliced or diced they are commonly called nopalitos. You can buy commercially packed nopalitos at the grocery story and I would be surprised if you couldn't find a jar of them somewhere in Anchorage.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dean, I forgot to mention the pads which are sometimes available fresh in Anchorage. Those I've eaten before, but I don't remember ever eating tunas.
ReplyDelete