PICK A PECK OF PRICKLY PEARS!

Image Gallery PHOTOS BY JAMES TALLON

If you're like most people, you probably don't think of cacti—those spiny denizens of the desert—as fruit—bearing plants. Bebe (Cactus Lady) Bruce says "Think again! Some cacti live a long way from the dry Southwest and bear luscious fruit that can be made into jelly, wine, and many other products . . . all of which have a definite market value!"

The opuntia—commonly called the prickly pear cactus—is perhaps the best-known and best-loved cactus in the world today. Best-known because it's so widely distributed (you'll find opuntias from California to Florida to Europe to the West Indies). Best- loved because of the bountiful yield of pulpy, red, deliciously tangy fruits—or "prickly pears"—this cactus produces every fall.

My own love affair with the opuntia began one afternoon as I was walking my dog down a dusty road outside the small, west-Texas town to which I'd recently moved. At one point, my canine friend stopped to sniff a ripe, crimson—colored, half-eaten (by a bird) fruit that had—apparently—fallen from a clump of cacti growing out of a rocky ledge above the road.

Like a true city bumpkin I picked up the partially devoured fruit, carried it home, showed it to my neighbor, and asked: "Isn't this what folks use to make prickly pear jelly?"

"Yep! Sure is," my friend replied. She then told me the name of an elderly lady in a nearby community who made the jelly and who could give me the recipe.

Thus began a prickly pear recipe collection that has since swollen to include jam, preserves, pie, wine, and a vitamin C-rich pear-juice "cooler", among others. My "romance" with the prickly pear has turned out to be a long and—well— fruitful one.

YOU CAN STALK THE PRICKLY PEAR

"Indian figs", as opuntias are sometimes called, are so widely distributed throughout the U.S. that—chances are—you'll have little trouble locating some near where you live ... if you know how to look for them.

The eastern prickly pear (Opuntia vulgaris) grows in rocky and sandy habitats—especially near the coast—from as far north as Massachusetts to the southernmost reaches of Florida, and in between. The ovoid pads of these cacti measure two to five inches in length, and the whole plant is seldom more than a couple feet tall. Likewise, the fruit is fairly tiny: only an inch to an inch and a half long.