Prickly Pear / Opuntia / Paddle Cactus

[tigsteele]

This is the 4th episode of 'Tales from the wasteland' in it Dogmeat and I go over a desert staple, the prickly pear cactus or opuntia. It can be eaten raw or cooked and is even sold in stores.

WARNING: The plant is covered in spikes, but the really annoying/painful part is the spiky fur that you may not notice right away. Fire is the preferred method of removing them.



If you have any questions or comments let me know.

[danmc]

Speaking from personal experience..... you really don't want those glochids stuck in your tongue (or any other body part). Chalk that one up to "life lesson the hard way"

[rezmut]

I liked the part about fire inhansing the flavor-maybe from "icky" to "not good"-while you can eat cactus leaves,even the cows don't if anything else is available.
On the other hand,the fruits are awsome,and make the best jelly.

[M.Demetrius]

We're past the fruit season where I live, but next year, we hope to harvest a bunch of fruit (called tuna in Spanish) and see what happens if we ferment them. I'll bet I know already.
Fruit juice + sugar + yeast = proven formula for many thousands of years.