The Many Uses of the Prickly Pear

By Bebe Bruce
Published on September 1, 1976
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Always wear gloves when harvesting prickly pear fruit.
Always wear gloves when harvesting prickly pear fruit.
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The flowers of the opuntia are not only beautiful, they lead to tasty fruit.
The flowers of the opuntia are not only beautiful, they lead to tasty fruit.
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Each opuntia flower lasts only a day.
Each opuntia flower lasts only a day.
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You can make jam, wine and pie from prickly pears.
You can make jam, wine and pie from prickly pears.
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You can make prickly pear wine in a homemade system.
You can make prickly pear wine in a homemade system.

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.

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