I know there are recipes out there, but does anybody know whether or not it’s worth cooking prickly pear? This one grew so tall that it fell over an broke in half. It seems a waste letting it sleep with the worms.
Or should I ferment it and distill it?
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I have eaten cooked cactus, but it came in a jar so I don’t have a clue how it’s actually prepared. In the early history of Utah it’s something that was eaten quite a bit by the Anasazi Indians.
cactus sure enough can be eaten after having shaved off the spines. you should use only recently sprouted leaves, not bigger than the palm of a hand, which still have a light green color. Older ones are hard. mexican cuisines uses cactus leaves, boiling them three times to get off the slime they’re leaving. A more tasty way, especially for salads is to sautée them on low heat until they stop being slimy. They’re a little bit acid, so smooth on the vinegar.
I never knew that cactus is edible. Thanks for letting me know
I have eaten the fruit but never the leaves
Thanks roman. My cactus is mainly old and bigger than the hand. I may have to ferment it and distil some rotgut.
Clar, the fruit? I’ never though of that.
I contributed information about how to peel about prickly pears to Weekend Herb Blogging to the host for the week: The Cabinet of Prof Kitty.
I also wrote a post on this in my blog. Please excuse my feeble skills as a blogger -it was at the start of my establishing a food blog about all things Sicilian and I have become a little more skilled over time.
Knowing how to peel prickly pears could be helpful.You will need to look at both The Cabinet of Prof Kitty and my post FICHI D’INDIA
http://allthingssicilianandmore.blogspot.com/2009/04/fichi-dindia-prickly-pears_15.html