Way back in my youth, I remember seeing an education film that mentioned eating cactus pears. Is that correct, if so how do you know when they are ripe and how do you eat them? I'm hoping one of our western friends knows this stuff.
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Way back in my youth, I remember seeing an education film that mentioned eating cactus pears. Is that correct, if so how do you know when they are ripe and how do you eat them? I'm hoping one of our western friends knows this stuff.
Ive seen a lot of those spiny critters but never have had the urge to harvest them. But you aroused my curiosity.
I found this site on when to pick them: http://www.wikihow.com/Eat-Prickly-Pear-Cactus
Also I found recipies at www.Cooks.com
Hope that helps.
As an additional thought that site cooks.com has hundreds of different recipies submitted by ordinary folks on about anything you want to try.
Tim
You can also eat the cactus itself. Not real appitizing and a little slimmy but will save your life if need be. I eat some cactus and pears when I was working the border between Arizona and Mexico
The pears some are green and some of the harder to find ones are purple... Both have lots of seeds inside... You just find a cactus with a flower on it and when the flower falls off the pear will be ready... The green one has a sweet taste but the purple one is more so... the cactus itself can be eaten most times of the year... You take a cactus and peel the outside and eat the inside... Its slimy & dont taste real good... Best to make a small fire and singe off the burrs before handeling them too much... If you want to grow some cactus just pjant a pear bearly bellow the ground but once tou getem started its hard to get rid of them,,,Cactus can be dangerous if your in a climate that is desert like where it gets cold at night because it has something what cools the core temperature of your body which you dont want if your stranded in that climate overnight...
if you look for recipes, the cactus itself is called nopale plural nopales and the fruit are called tunas. very well used in Mexican cooking. Nopales are slimy, kinda like okra (nasty, eww)
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph19.htm
In South Africa we called them prickly pears, same thing. To know when they are ripe some turn yellow when they are ripe the purple I am not sure but.... we used to take a 2x2 length of wood, nail an open tin a little bigger than the pear on the end, fit the tin over the pear twist the pear off the plant. Do not handle the pear without gloves. To eat the pears on the spot, use a fork push it into the the pear take a sharp knife cut the ends of the fruit off then carefully slice through the skin on the length of the fruit push the skin away from the inner ball of fruit. If it is not ripe the skin will not peel away. We used to leave the peeled fruit in the fridge until cold, delicious. BE VERY CAREFUL THAT THE THORNS ARE NOT STICKING TO THE KNIFE BLADE WHEN CUTTING AND CLEANING. THORNS IN THE TONGUE ARE NOT PLEASANT.Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
Wow what a coincedence that you put this post up Uncle Jesse. I just did some research on this the other day to reinforce what I was taught in my Army Aviation Desert Survival Class.
Most cactus can be eaten or the water extracted from their pulpy cores. Also there are some cactus that when consumed will send you on a vision quest!
Both the fruit and the leaf of the prickley pear cactus can be consumed. This catus has a wide growing range as far as suitable climate goes. It will grow from parts of southern Canada to Central America. My neighbor has a beautiful prickley pear in his back yard that looks cool covered with a light dusting of snow.
I work in Saguaro National Park as an intrepretive naturalist during the winter months. The fruit of the Prickly Pear, the Saguaro and even the Barrel cactus are edible. The Prickly Pear and the Saguaro fruit are very tasty, the barrel cactus fruit - not so much. Small spines on the outside of the Prickly Pear fruit need to be removed before consumption. Consuming the liquid inside of a cactus is only to be done as a last resort since many of the members of the cactus family concentrate alkaloids which are not good for the human digestive or the human kidneys. The pads of the Prickly Pear cactus are edible but not all that tasty, from my perspective. The best bet when traveling in the desert is to carry an ample supply of water, and admire the cactus from a safe distance.
Is it safe to use chopped cactus to seed a solar still to collect water in the desert? That was taught to us way back in Boy Scouts.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Chronicler
Ed
What is about you Tennessee boys that you are always trying to build a still?
I'm just glad that they do!Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
I OTOH, find nopales to be quite tasteful and eat them regularly.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Chronicler
Is that the jealousy talkin'?Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
;)
Ed
Never been a big fan of hard stuff, however, we do have a friend down in south Mississippi that makes a might fine beer using roasted pecans (prounced pi-cons).Quote:
Originally Posted by EdD
I pronounce them pea-CONNS.Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse
Pee cans don't grow on trees...
Ed
With you 100% with your observation and pronunciation of pecans (pea-conns). :)
You mean these?Quote:
Originally Posted by EdD
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