Buzz
Prickly pear cactus is an essential food in the diets of people from Mexico and Central America. This food is becoming increasingly popular in various places as a unique, trendy, and healthy addition to meals. The prickly pear cactus has three edible parts: the pads (cooked like vegetables), the petals (used in salads), and the fruit (which can be considered a type of fruit). This plant grows wild throughout the southwestern United States, down to South America, and up to Canada. However, the cactus you find in stores or at farmers' markets is typically farmed.
Ingredients
- Prickly pear cactus pads
- Prickly pear cactus fruit
- Pepper, salt, and other seasonings
Steps
Prickly Pear Cactus Pads
Purchase or cut a few prickly pear cactus pads. Refer to the Warning section. The cactus known as the prickly pear for a good reason.
- Select firm pads with a vibrant green color.
- Smaller, younger pads harvested in early spring are the juiciest, with a mild flavor and fewer spines. The thicker the pad, the older it is. Older pads tend to be fibrous and have thicker sap, which many people find unappealing. Leave the older pads for animals to feed on during food shortages. Soft pads are sometimes sold as 'young pads.'
- If harvesting the cactus yourself, make sure to wear thick gloves or use tongs. Either break off the pads or cut them from the stem. Cutting from the base is often less stressful for the plant and helps it recover more quickly than breaking off the pads. This method helps maintain the plant's health for future harvests.
Use a knife to scrape off the spines from the cactus pads. Do not remove your gloves until you've thoroughly cleaned and removed all spines. Cactus pads not only have large spines but also tiny, nearly invisible hairs that can cause severe itching; these are called glochids and are very difficult to remove from the skin. You can also burn off the spines using a small torch or place the cactus pad over a gas burner, using tongs to flip the pad. Refer to the Warning section.
Rinse the cactus pads under cool running water. Peel or cut off any discolored or bruised sections.
Cut the cactus pads (wipe the knife clean after each cut, as small spines may stick to the blade), or leave the entire pad intact, depending on your cooking method.
Prepare the cactus pads. You can boil, grill, or mix cactus pads with other ingredients to create unique, tasty, and healthy dishes.
- For boiling, you might need to drain the water and boil again once or twice depending on the thickness of the sap. The thicker the pad, the denser the sap.
- A popular method is to boil the cactus pads with a copper coin, which helps dilute the sap, making it easier for those unfamiliar with the taste.
- After boiling, drain the cactus pads, rinse them with cold water, and use them in a salad with thinly sliced tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeños, vinegar, salt, and lime juice.
- If grilling, it's a good idea to sprinkle salt, pepper, and other seasonings on the outside of the pads. The cactus pads are ready to eat when they are soft and slightly browned.
- Grilled cactus pads, cut into strips, can be tossed with fresh lime juice and a little olive oil. You can also add grilled portobello mushrooms to the salad.
- Try adding cooked cactus pads to soups, salads, scrambled eggs, as a side dish, or enjoy them on their own.
- A traditional favorite in Mexico is 'nopalitos en salsa verde.' Cactus pads are sliced, boiled (see description above), then cooked with a traditional sauce made from tomatillos (sometimes mistaken for green tomatoes, but actually a completely different fruit), onions, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeño peppers (blend the ingredients and simmer). This dish is often served in corn tortillas like tacos or with potato chips.
Prickly Pear Fruit
Buy or harvest prickly pear fruit.
- The skin of the prickly pear is orange-red or purple, with the inside being the darkest purple, which is considered the sweetest. However, in Mexico, the fruit often has white skin.
- Store-bought prickly pears are typically free from spines and sometimes can be handled directly. Unprocessed fruit still has glochids that can cause irritation if they come in contact with skin. To be safe, use tongs or, at the very least, wrap your hands in plastic bags instead of gloves.
- If you're harvesting prickly pear fruit, keep in mind that while the fruit is edible, only a few are truly ripe and sweet. Pick them when they turn a deep purple, just before they start to wrinkle.
Remove the spines.
- Rinse 5 or 6 fruits in a colander under cool running water, gently moving them around for 3-4 minutes, being careful not to bruise the fruit. This will help remove the yellow hairs on the skin, making it easier to handle.
Peel the prickly pear.
- Once you've removed the hair from the fruit's skin, cut off the thicker skin at both ends (top and bottom). You may need to experiment a bit to determine how thick to peel the skin. Generally, you should peel enough to avoid cutting into the seed-filled flesh inside.
- Cut the fruit in half lengthwise from top to bottom, then carefully slide the knife's tip under the skin and peel it off.
Slice the prickly pear into pieces, or pierce it with a fork or skewer for easier eating.
- The flesh of the prickly pear can be used to make jams, jellies, ice cream, wine, and 'cactus candy.'
- You can eat the seeds (but be careful not to bite too hard, as they are quite tough) or spit them out.
- Some people add the prickly pear seeds to soups or dry them and grind them into powder.
Finish up.
Tips
- The flavor of prickly pear is similar to kiwi fruit, but less tart.
- Don't use tweezers if you get small spines stuck in your skin. Apply glue (Elmer's glue) to the area with the spines. Wait for the glue to dry into a 'skin' on your hand, then peel it off. The spines will come off with the glue without causing pain. If glue isn't available, you can use strong fabric tape or masking tape to remove the spines.
- The flavor of cooked cactus pads resembles that of green beans, and the texture is similar to okra.
- If grilled over a fire, the spines will burn off. You can also feed cactus pads to livestock for a short time.
- Prickly pear fruit is popular not only in the U.S. and Mexico but also in the Mediterranean region and European countries. In Italy, it's often served in a bowl of cold water; in Malta, they refrigerate the fruit for a few hours before eating.
- To learn more about the nutritional benefits and value of prickly pear, check out the links below.
- If you want to store cactus pads in the refrigerator, make sure the pads are fresh and not wrinkled. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, and they will keep for up to 2 weeks.
- If you handle prickly pear cactus regularly, you may find that the glochids are a minor inconvenience, causing occasional itching. However, the glochids on certain species of prickly pear, like Opuntia Engelmanii v. Texensis, are larger and can cause significant pain. Always use gloves when handling cactus.
- Initially, it's best to buy cactus pads instead of harvesting them yourself. This way, you’ll know what to look for.
- In some cases, you can easily remove the glochids by rubbing the cactus pads on an old thick cloth. And this article mentions that Native Americans would rub cactus pads on sand to remove the glochids, but it’s not exactly 'sand'—it's a type of tightly packed gravel from the Southwestern U.S.
- It's best to harvest the cactus pads in the late afternoon when the sap level is lowest or early in the morning.
- You can buy cactus pads that are about 20 cm long (classified as 'small') or fruits that are about 10 cm long (classified as 'medium'). Larger cactus pads and fruits are more difficult to prepare.
Warnings
- If you are harvesting the prickly pear cactus yourself, you must always wear gloves.
- Some varieties of prickly pear cactus do not have thorns, but all of them have glochids.
- Be extremely cautious when removing thorns from the cactus, or buy pads and fruits that have already been de-spined.
- Unless you are using very thick gloves, it’s best to use tongs or other "long-distance" tools to handle the cactus pads.
- Be aware that cactus spines can puncture the skin and cause significant pain.
