Cooking With The Prickly Pear Cactus

The prickly pear cactus plant grows wild throughout the southern
region of Arizona where the air is warm and dry. It produces large,
green, succulent pads that bear plump, juicy fruits in the late summer
months.

NOPALES

Prickly pear pads (Nopales) have been eaten by the Native
Americans for centuries. The pads are picked from the cactus but
must be handled with care; the hair like spines that project from the
pads can easily get caught in your skin.

Cactus pads are found in most Mexican markets. It is better to choose
the smaller and thicker deep-green pads because they are the most
tender. Usually fresh cactus pads are sold whole. For convenience,
however, they may also be purchased in jars already diced and even
precooked in their natural juices.

To clean the whole pads, hold them with a kitchen towel and remove
the spines and rounded outside edge of the pads with a small paring
knife or vegetable peeler.

Prickly Pear Fruits

Traditionally, prickly pear fruits are harvested in late summer. A brush
made from wild grass is used to remove their fine, hair like prickers
and soft spines. To remove the prickers in a more conventional way,
hold the fruit with metal tongs under cold running water and scrub the
prickers off with a vegetable scrubbing brush.

When selecting fruits from the marketplace, be careful to choose
those that are soft but not overripe. The may range in color from
greenish-yellow to bright red, the latter being the ripest and best to
eat. If the spines have not been removed, be careful when handling
the fruits; the spines are small and difficult to remove from your hands.
If only green fruits are available, store them at room temperature until
they ripen to red.

To extract the juice from the fruits, wash them thoroughly under cold
running water, cut off the ends, and cut in half lengthwise. Place then
in a food processor and puree to a fine pulp. Press the pulp through a
fine sieve, using a wooden spoon or spatula to remove the seeds,
which should be discarded. Use the juice according to recipe
instructions. Twelve prickly pears make approximately 1 cup of juice.

From "Native American Cooking," by Lois Ellen Frank