Something else I would like to do this weekend, in addition to making cinnamon rolls, is go cactus hunting. The prickly pears are getting quite ripe and there are plenty of them around here. One of the prettiest, and most prolific is about 4′ from the shop.
Prickly Pear
It only takes about 50 of the fruit when they’re this ripe to make a batch of jelly so if I come across one or two more plants like this one, I can easily make a double batch of jelly. I am so hoping that by using the Mehu-Liisa Steam Juicer, I will not have to remove all those prickles . . we’ll see! I love that juicer and if it saves me from getting prickles in my hands, I will love it even more.
I’m thinking I can cut the pears, dump them in the sink, use big tongs to wash them and cut them in half and then dump them into the steam juicer but . . it remains to be seen if this plan will work. I hope it does and I’ll let you know.
There are several prickly pear recipes I’d like to try if it’s easy enough to get the juice out of them without having to remove all those prickles.
Sherrill says
Do you use the green part to make the jelly? There’s a guy at the end of the street that has a couple of BIG plants in his garden but all the stickers are gone–no clue how he does it but they’re smooth as a baby’s butt! LOL
Sherrill says
Ooo, look at this site I found about making the jelly (if you’d never mentioned it, I wouldn’t have been googling for cactus jelly!! LOL).
http://www.wgarrison.com/PricklyPear.htm
JudyL says
That’s good info and good pictures. I see that she mentions that sometimes the jelly will not “gel” and she uses it as syrup when that happens. I’ve heard that using liquid pectin is much better when making prickly pear jelly and you’re less likely to end up with syrup if using the liquid.
JudyL says
We use the green part (napoles) for adding to cooked dishes. It reminds me of pickled eggplant but with the slimy texture of okra. We use the fruit for jelly and margaritas! 🙂 Here, the fruit is reddish/purple but different varieties are different colored.
We have a spineless variety in our “Texas flower bed” that the original owners planted. So far, it hasn’t bloomed or produced fruit.
Gwen says
Love prickly pear jelly! Wish it weren’t so much work! We like the pickled nopalitos in salads.
danielle says
yum yum yum!!!!!
Diana in RR, TX says
We were introduced to those last year-they called them tuna at the one fruit stand. He showed us how to eat them-delicious. Several places on our daily travels have them ready for picking along the road-outside the fence. Need to put a container in the car.
Susan says
Paul always used tongs to burn the stickers off. It helps if you have a gas stove. =) That was his job, so I haven’t made Prickly Pear jelly since he died. I definitely think it’s worth it. If you are using Sure-Jell, just remember to boil it about two minutes longer than you would strawberries or some other fruit. The guy down the street has a huge Prickly Pear outside his mailbox, and I was surprised, because TN is so wet! I haven’t checked the fruit lately, but I meant to, since I figure HE isn’t going to use it!
Katie M. says
I put my pears in a colander outside to rinse then put them in a big pot and cook down using a potato masher to ‘release’ the pulp. I strain through cheese cloth then through muslin (no it doesn’t stain!) leaving me with a beautiful juice for jelly. I also add a cinnamon stick and a couple whole cloves when cooking down the fruit – gives a little extra spice flavor…. Just thought I’d share an alternative…..
Pamj says
Duct tape solves the prickle problem..I have opuntia w/o big prickles, but the itsy bitsy one’s always seem to find a place between my fingers..but the duct tape yanks them out for me.