Prickly pear cactus recipes for prickly pear jelly, syrup, and candy. Use wild prickly pear fruit to create wonderful homemade foods.
It all starts in early April when the prickly pear cactus flowers begin to bloom. Shades of orange, red, white and yellow flowers abound. Soon, honeybees buzz about ensuring the future harvest of delicious prickly pear tunas.
Create wonderful, tasty at home treats using the free prickly pear cactus fruits. These fruits are known as "tunas" and they are excellent for making prickly pear cactus jelly recipe, prickly pear candy recipe, prickly pear syrup, and even prickly pear margaritas.
Prickly pear "tunas" are covered with lots of fine sharp spines that will sneak their way into every crevice that they can get to. Therefore, when collecting your bounty of wild "tunas" be sure to wear heavy leather gloves and a long sleeved shirt. Using a set of metal or plastic tongs is also helpful for grabbing and twisting the fruit from the cactus pad. An empty five gallon bucket with a handle is the perfect receptacle for your prickly pear tuna harvest. Go ahead and fill the bucket up, so you don't have to make extra trips down the dusty dirt road. After all, its free!
Start your search for prickly pear fruit by finding a country road to turn down, look alongside the road next to the fence line, and you will see your prey. Always keep safety in mind! Park off the road, turn your hazard lights on, and watch out for barbed wire and electric fencing. No one said this was going to be easy. But the feeling of joy you will get by admiring your jars of beautiful magenta prickly pear jelly, will be worth all the effort involved.
Tips for picking the perfect prickly pear tuna: Look for deep purple tunas that yield to slight pressure when squeezed. Avoid tunas that look diseased or with obvious insect damage. The ideal time to pick these tunas is between the months of May and August in most states. Pick fruit earlier in the morning for optimum quality and freshness. If making homemade prickly pear jelly, pick several 'green' or under ripe tunas to add natural pectin to your batch of jelly.
Once you are home with your tunas, you are ready to begin cleaning them. get a good vegetable brush and clean all the spines off the tunas. It is easier to do this under running water, while holding the prickly pear tunas with the tongs. You can also scrape the prickly pear tunas with the backside of a butter knife to rid them of the evil spines. If you are really brave, you can use a blow torch to singe the spines off of the fruits. Dry the tunas so as not to add extra liquid to your prickly pear cactus jelly recipe.
You will also find more information on the nutritional analysis on a prickly pear cactus, as well as recipes for prickly pear margaritas, a prickly pear candy recipe, and Cheri's prickly pear jelly.
