Libertarian
Deceased
There is a garden of cactus a few doors down and they are covered in pears. When are they ready to pick? Any pictures of ready pears?
Prickly pears?
- Thread starter Libertarian
- Start date
HoofTrimmer
Inactive
Yum. The ones I see around here are red when ripe. They will probably be a little soft.
Can you eat ANY pears off of ANY cactus?
HoofTrimmer
Can you eat ANY pears off of ANY cactus?
HoofTrimmer
There are lots of recipes for prickly pears on the net. They make wonderful jelly. Good wine, too. Be sure to pick them with tongs. I don't bother to burn off the thorns when I make jelly because I have to strain it anyway. I have seen candies made from them as well.
Just poke around for recipes and I'm sure you will come up with plenty. BTW, they used to ripen in Nov. in AZ. Don't know when they ripen in TX.
Mushroom
Just poke around for recipes and I'm sure you will come up with plenty. BTW, they used to ripen in Nov. in AZ. Don't know when they ripen in TX.
Mushroom
Libertarian
Deceased
I think that I will take my tongs and a cardboard box down the street today. Thanks for the info.
You can burn the spines off and another trick is to get a heavy paperbag and put a bunch if sand and some gravel in it then toss in he pears and shake the sh*r out of 'em. Watch the end that was on top tho-those little spines can be hard to get out and they are very fine and they go in and really become annying after some time plus you can get them in your mouth.
When I lived in Arizona, my neighbors had prickly pears and didn't want them, so they let me have them to make jelly. Here is the recipe I used. It's about 30 years old.
Prickly Pear Jelly
Cut fruit in half and burn off stickers.
Boil.
Drain in jelly bag overnight.
3 cups juice 4 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice 1 pkg powdered pectin
Measure juice in saucepan and mix in pectin.
Bring quickly to a hard boil.
Stir in sugar all at once.
Bring to full rolling boil.
Boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and skim off foam.
Pour into prepared glasses.
Makes 6-7 jelly glasses.
As I remember, it tasted very good. I always thought it was a lot of work, but I didn't have anything else to do back then. Plus it was something different than we have in the midwest.
Like I said, it's an old recipe; but those are some of the best ones. If you try this recipe, pm me and let me know how it turns out!
Cassie
Prickly Pear Jelly
Cut fruit in half and burn off stickers.
Boil.
Drain in jelly bag overnight.
3 cups juice 4 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice 1 pkg powdered pectin
Measure juice in saucepan and mix in pectin.
Bring quickly to a hard boil.
Stir in sugar all at once.
Bring to full rolling boil.
Boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and skim off foam.
Pour into prepared glasses.
Makes 6-7 jelly glasses.
As I remember, it tasted very good. I always thought it was a lot of work, but I didn't have anything else to do back then. Plus it was something different than we have in the midwest.
Like I said, it's an old recipe; but those are some of the best ones. If you try this recipe, pm me and let me know how it turns out!
Cassie
A.T.Hagan
Inactive
The Hispanics around here call the prickly pear fruit 'tunas' and usually eat them when they are going on dark reddish purple. May be different varieties with differing fruit colors that I'm not aware of though.
I rather like them. Sweet, interesting flavor. Very seedy, rather like pomegranates that way. The juice will stain clothing. Makes a vivid jelly.
Living on a sand ridge in Florida we've got lots of the little native prickly pear cactus. They're a damned nuisance, in fact. I've been thinking of looking for a good fruiting type and planting them. Should be a sure producer, I'm thinking.
.....Alan.
I rather like them. Sweet, interesting flavor. Very seedy, rather like pomegranates that way. The juice will stain clothing. Makes a vivid jelly.
Living on a sand ridge in Florida we've got lots of the little native prickly pear cactus. They're a damned nuisance, in fact. I've been thinking of looking for a good fruiting type and planting them. Should be a sure producer, I'm thinking.
.....Alan.