Quote Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse View Post
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.
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.