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Thread: Cacti

  1. #21
    Senior Member SARKY's Avatar
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    How do you unspine the tunas?
    I know what hunts you.


  2. #22
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SARKY View Post
    How do you unspine the tunas?
    Propane torch.
    Can't Means Won't

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  3. #23
    Super Moderator crashdive123's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Willie View Post
    Does anyoone have a recipe on making prickly pear cactus jelly from the fruit(tuna)? I thought there was something posted but I cannot find anything!

    Thanks, Willie
    I couldn't find it either. Here's one though (I have not tried it). http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/...tus-jelly.html
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  4. #24
    The newbie! Willie's Avatar
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    Thanks crash.


    Willie
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  5. #25
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    Sarky, an open flame will singe the needles off. I used a bernzomatic torch, but you could just as easily "roast" them off over a campfire. Grrlscout had a recipe posted, but the link came down a while back.

  6. #26
    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SARKY View Post
    How do you unspine the tunas?
    First I fill the bucket of tunas with lots of water, and vigorously swish them around with some tongs.

    Then, I drain them in a colander, and spray them with more water.

    That will knock off the majority of them.

    Then, still using tongs, I slice them all in half, and freeze them. That breaks down the cell walls, rendering more juice. It also weakens the glochids (the little hair-like spines)

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    When I'm ready to use them, I take them straight from the freezer and toss them in a pot. I'll add just a little bit of water.

    Take them up to a strong simmer, but not a boil. This pretty much dissolves the glochids.

    As they simmer, I'll squish them with a potato masher. Then I'll hit them with the stick blender.

    Once I think I have gotten all the juice from them, I pour them through a colander, and discard the pulp, skin, and seeds.

    Then I will sieve the juice. That catches just about anything that might remain. If I'm feeling extra cautious and patient, I'll run it through a muslin cloth after that. But it's usually not necessary.

  7. #27
    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Oh and the recipe on this page looks like the one I used:

    http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-...rs.aspx?page=3

  8. #28
    The newbie! Willie's Avatar
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    Thank you very much grrlscout!

    Willie
    Yor are only a failure when you stop getting back up!
    I'm not a hoarder........ "I'M A COLLECTOR"

  9. #29
    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    More on the traditional harvesting of saguaro fruit, including video showing how it's actually done:

    http://www.azcentral.com/news/native...=fruit-harvest

  10. #30
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    I shared this thread with a beekeeping friend of mine who made some of the jelly. Great stuff! Thanks grrlscout!

  11. #31

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    great post, pictures look delicious. Prickly Pair also has probably one of the funnest scientific names to say (opuntia stricta)

  12. #32
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    Fruits are ripe in my area now. Will be making more of this jelly soon since we ate all ours a long time ago. Delicious !

  13. #33
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    Friend of mine wanted to get rid of the prickly pears in his yard. Don't know if this is a good time to move them but it was a case of now or never. Anyway I ended up with a pickup load when we got done. Hope that at least some of them root in their new spaces.

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  14. #34
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    You just throw them on the ground and they will root just fine. I have grown it in Illinois and Indiana. It would shrivel up in the winter and you would swear it was dead but came out again in the spring. If a piece got broken off and landed on the ground the spines would turn into roots where it touched the ground and start growing. That is one tough plant.
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  15. #35
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    If it's that tough and that easy to get started I'm going to have alot of prickly pear in the yard by this time next year I guess. TY Rick for letting me know.

    Oldtrap
    Never claimed to be an expert. Just use or do what works for me.

  16. #36
    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    This is true. Around here, you'll see where someone dug a hole, and stuck a pad in it, and buried it halfway.

    Here's one that is sprouting new growth on the old pad, after two months:

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    No surprise, but they like sandy soil.

  17. #37
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    That one shriveled up piece in the center is what all of our cactus looked like in the winter. You would swear they were dead. But the next spring they turned lush green again.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  18. #38
    Junior Member bushrat82's Avatar
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    Nice post! What a broad range of edibles. Western Nebraska was filled with prickly pear and yucca so I keyed in on the post from memories of spending my teen years there. My mom tried out a skinned and breaded prickly pear patty one time and I thought it was pretty tasty.. with some salt and pepper of course. I especially like the prickly margarita you've shown.
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  19. #39
    Senior Member grrlscout's Avatar
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    Guess what I finally found? A banana yucca!

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    That sucker was way bigger than I expected it to be. I'm going to let it ripen up a bit, then I'm going to collect its seeds, and roast the flesh.

    Also, I found a great site that described various ways to prepare barrel cactus - very handy!
    http://www.desertortoisebotanicals.c...barrel-cactus/

    And it is prickly pear season yet again. This time, I am experimenting with kefir grains to make a fermented prickly pear beverage called "colonche". I'm not sure if I've nailed it yet, but testing the samples has been fun.

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    Last edited by grrlscout; 09-04-2013 at 02:42 PM.

  20. #40

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    man these pics are making me jealous! I have yet to harvest my prickly pears.

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