PICK A PECK OF PRICKLY PEARS!

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In contrast, the western prickly pear—0. rafinesquii and other species—grows considerably larger (a height of ten feet is not uncommon) than O. vulgaris and produces one- to five-inch-long "pears" which are shaped somewhat like Old Spice after-shave bottles. These opuntias are found in rocky and sandy areas from the Mississippi Valley to Ohio and Michigan, west to British Columbia, south to (and beyond) the Mexican border, and eastward as far as Texas and Louisiana.

All opuntias bloom in the spring, at which time they're covered by spectacular, waxy, yellow (sometimes red) flowers which usually disappear after only a day. In the fall, "pears" develop on the plant where blossoms occurred in the spring, and the fruit is ready for harvest from late September to—and through—October (and even into November, in some locales).

HOW TO HARVEST PRICKLY PEARS

Rule Number One when foraging prickly pears is: Wear gloves or use tongs to remove the pears from the plants. Don't go after the fruit barehanded, and for heaven's sake don't try to eat your pickin's in the field! (The pears—true to their name—are covered with clusters of highly irritating bristles, making it easier than you think to wind up with sore hands—and sore gums!—at the end of the day.)

Mature prickly pears are tawny green to blackish purple, depending on the species. There's only one sure way to tell if a fruit is ripe without tasting it, though ... and that's to pick it off the cactus and examine the pear's damaged end (where it was torn from the parent plant). If the pulp is red at the rupture, you can be certain it's ripe.

LET THERE BE JUICE

To make prickly pear jelly—or prickly pear anything, for that matter—you've got to start with juice and/or pulp. Let's talk about juice first.

Start with a quart of fresh-picked fruit and scrub the pears under running water with a vegetable brush (use tongs, unless want needles to come off in your hands). Place the clean intact fruits in a large stew pot, cover them with water and boil for half an hour ... then crush the tender pears with a potato masher and strain the resulting pulp through a cloth-lined collander. (Leftover seeds, skins, and pulp be composted.) You should end up with about 2-1/2 of juice.

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