How to Eat Cactus: Opuntia And Prickly Pears

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Forage and eat cactus, including recipes for the edible pads. 

In tales about the West, the cactus is sometimes portrayed as a water-bearing plant that saves thirsting cowpokes lost in the desert. But any hungry range rider worth his spurs would know that some types can provide right good eating, too, especially those known as Indian figs, nopales, prickly pears, or beaver tail cacti.??

In fact, there are dozens of varieties of these hardy forageables. They’re members of the genus Opuntia, which encompasses well over 200 species. These can be divided into two broad groups: the inedible–or at least basically unpalatable–cholla cacti (which have slender, rounded stems) and the edible prickly pears (distinguished by flat pads resembling beavers’ tails).??

Many people are surprised to learn that some kinds of prickly pear cactus can be found as far east in this country as Massachusetts. For the really good eating types, though, you have to go to the Southwest, where the spiny plants can be seen growing wild along highways and on the open range. In some areas, in fact, they’ve become so numerous that they’re considered a pest weed by ranchers and farmers.

In Mexico, though, the cacti are raised commercially, and the fruit (called tuna) and the edible pads (nopales) are marketed. If you don’t have access to wild cactus and can’t grow it in a backyard patch, you may be able to find it canned in the Mexican foods section of your supermarket.??

Forage and Eat Cactus Carefully

  • Published on May 1, 1984
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