I have lived in Texas most my life and have eaten many nopal and tuna(pads and fruit)The only fruit that is good in my opinion is the strawberry cactus.All Opuntia have very little variation in taste wich is mostly bland or non existent.Hence the reason why you add a ton of sugar.There will be people that will tell you they taste great and vary a lot in taste.I say try as many as you can.If you want to try growing strawberry cactus then you will truly enjoy a cactus fruit.I have also tasted many throughout mexico too.You can fined subtle differences in some of them.The best I have tasted have been drought stressed.

In many many years of looking at and searching out information on edible fruits I have never seen a named Opuntia selection emphasizing fruit quality. I would have bought it. (This of course doesn't mean they don't exist but in a lot of looking I've never seen one.) I have eaten many good wild ones though (z. 10) and good ones grown simply as ornament (z. 7/8), so good ones are not hard to find. I've made some mighty tasty jelly from some wild ones too. Once when I had family in zone 10 I planted a pad from a selection made for pad eating. It was less mucilaginous. It grew into a massive multibranched bush or tree over 10 feet tall. The fruit was nothing though.

I'd look for Burpee's old "spineless" one that he selected for cattle pasturage. If it's fruit are good the lack of spines would be welcome.

Not much help, I know.

Hi,

Well, I intend to. However, I'm only interested in the local Opuntia humifusa, eastern prickly pear/Indian-fig - being only interested in local natives, or if not local, ones which will not hybridize with local species.

Anyone like O. humifusa?

I was looking more on the juicing side of the prickly pear fruits rather then fresh eating. Something similar to the popular juicing passion fruit and guava varieties. I think prickly pear is under rated, the fruit has a mild sweetness but a great fruity sour flavor as well.

I feel though with some focused cultivation this fruit could have a great taste(the gene pool is pretty diverse). Perhaps the spines and spurs on the fruit helped contribute to the lack of interest in this.

After goolging around for a while I did stumble upon some cultivars geared toward fruit and pad production. One of them was santaynez cultivar. I usually don't like linking websites to places that sell as well, however this website was the only place that had info on this cultivar. rivenrock.com/santaynez.htm

Anyway I would love to get my hands on some great specimens, so I could try my hands at breeding (new to breeding but have a great interest in trying it).

Here is a spineless variety Opuntia cacanapa 'Ellisiana'. Also another cultivated Opuntia ficus-indica variety 'Lynnwood'. No idea on the taste of the fruit. I have had a good amount of wild ones. I may go out and purchase the santa ynez and lynnwood to see how the fruit compares to the Southern California wild fruit.

Having a brix meter would help greatly on selection of a good cultivar for fruit.

Update:

Have a newly rooted Prickly Pear with red tuna fruits that is flowering right now. This prickly pear was obtained from a woman's home, I noticed it on the way to the freeway. Was a very productive and compact, fruit is medium to large sized. I am waiting on the fruit to ripen up to give it a good taste test.

I also obtained pad (soon to be rooted) of a cultivated Peruvian variety of Prickly Pear. The tuna fruit is large and yellow. Pulp is clear and gelatin like, taste of the fruit is excellent and very sweet. I got this one from a vendor at the CRFG fruit festival.

I also have seeds collected from Peru of the green and yellow varieties of tuna fruit. I plan to grow out the seeds and eventually compare future plants harvested fruits to the others.

Perhaps I will try some crosses with the red prickly pear and the Peruvian yellow one in the future.

Just recently I've decided to add Opuntia to my 26 fruit trees and 30 grape vines. I have collected from roadside and alleys and by ways, red round, red pear shaped, yellow, orange and a very light green. All of them taste good. The best is the one I buy at the swap meet in the Mexican neighborhood, the variety is called "Reina", almost white; it is the favorite in Mexico. I plan to grow the seeds of this fruit, then graft the seedlings on to an established plant in order to cut down the fruiting time.

Just read an article on Google.com.mx, regarding making "colonche", which is fermenting the juice of the tunas. While young it is still sweet, as time go by the sugar turns to alcohol. How about that "tuna wine".

I grow Prickly pears in my garden here in zone 6. I've been growing it for the past 10 years and it blooms pretty flowers in spring, and the fruit looks amazing. They are not as sweet as those grown in CA or AZ, but they stand out in the landscape.

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Bass

i just got an Opuntia leaf and i would like to plant it.

How do i prepare the soil and what kind of soil should i use if i plant it in a huge claw foot tub outdoors?

Greendumb would you happen to have some of the strawberry cactus that you would share? I would lkove to have a variety of this type of cactus both for the fruit and the veggie.

Also is anyone aware of any medicinal properties of this type of cactus?

Has anyone tried growing from seed. I bought some seed recently but they dont want to sprout, any ideas?

I'm also interested in the fruit so I'll let you know :)

Just read an article on Google.com.mx, regarding making "colonche", which is fermenting the juice of the tunas. While young it is still sweet, as time go by the sugar turns to alcohol. How about that "tuna wine".

I make wine from the fruits. We have an orange fruited Opuntia in the yard and it has a very tropical taste.

Brilliant color too.

Neat to see this older post come back alive...

To answer some of the recent questions as best I can...

Growing from seed: if I'm not mistaken the seeds germinate best when fresh, maybe thats your problem? I know all cacti take a long time from seed, and opuntia are best from cuttings

Growing cuttings: just stick the joint into any well-draining medium and don't water much at first.

A few Opuntia Engelmannii cuttings I planted last year are now loaded with flower buds and have two or three DOZEN pads -- wonderful growth. Fruit quality of these is pretty good, but my Opuntia macrocentra has the best, so I've planted a whole bunch of the pads in different places in the yard. They're sweet, not slimy, and great for fresh eating as well as syrup, jelly, and such.

I do have quite a lot of seed, so many I should just plant the lot and see, when you say they take a long time, do you mean germination time, or maturation?

I recently got some Aloe Vera to germinate so maybe its just a bit of patience I need? :)

Are all Opuntia similar looking and in growth?

I mean they take a long time to mature from seed.

Opuntias are strongly adapted for vegetative propagation, as many new plants in the wild start from broken off pads taking root. The closely related chollas (now separated into Cylindropuntia) are even more this way, and some species (C. bigelovii and C. fulgida) produce fruit with inviable seeds that fall off and only serve, along with the broken off stems, as vegetative propagules.

How similar are Opuntia species? The basic form -- branching chains of flattened stem segments -- is common to all. Size, growth rate, spination, color, of course vary greatly among the 180+ species of true Opuntia. Your "typical" Opuntia grows a foot or so high, with oblong 6-inch pads having both long sharp spines and smaller hair-like glochids, yellow flowers, and fleshy purple fruit.

Hope this was useful. Have fun with your seed planting!

Yeah, we have a wild prickly pear found in the wild, that we put in a pot. It's been in that pot undisturbed for about 5 years now. It produces a few nice fruits every year now. They are prickly alright. One must take time and care to remove all the furry spines on the fruit before eating. I would love to be able to collect enough fruits to make a nice jam. I tried that last year, but i forgot to take out the seeds. ...The seeds were like rocks when they hit my teeth... i was so disappointed, but it was an experiment i guess. I would love to eventually breed one without spines and with bigger fruit, but i suspect that may take many years.

I had been driving by a local house checking out the Opuntia (in fruit) growing on the side. I finally got the nerve to ask the owner if I could cut a couple of pads off of it. He said I could so I cut them off and brought them home. Along with the pads I took 4 fruit (he told me he did not eat them)that I pealed and ate. Now I do not claim to be a Opuntia aficionado (I have only eaten store bought tunas that were not all that impressive)but these tunas were delicious. The firmer OUTER part had the texture of kiwi the taste was slightly sweeter but less acidic. The softer INNER part reminded me of putting a handfull of very sweet blackberries in my mouth except the seeds were more like the seeds of a guava. I have read alot of post that state the fruit of the Opuntia they ate were not that sweet. I have a theory (just a possibility) for the differance. My Opuntia only carried 1 or 2 tunas per pad. Maybe like many other fruiting trees you need a certain amount of sun collecting area per fruit for quality fruit production.

I guess this answers some of the questions I had. What is the best and is there a place for cuttings available?

Strawberry cactus is Echinocereus engelmannii or Mammillaria dioica?

I have eaten wonderful spicy-hot pickles made from the sliced pads.

A friend pointed out how they would be perfect in a southwestern omelet.

I've never heard of the cuttings for sale, typically rooted plants are available. But in places where these cacti grow it is very easy to just find some good fruiting plants (perhaps in the wild or in a park, etc..) to take cuttings from.

Strawberry cactus usually means one of several Echnocereus. These are truly delicious, and have deciduous spines, so nothing to worry about! But, they are not nearly as productive as the Opuntias, cannot be easily grown from cuttings (they are not segmented at all), grow slowly, and need fairly specific growing conditions.

@nmfruit

I'm looking for a source that has vetted varieties specifically for home fruit production. Ebay has tons of listings and nurseries have tons of listings; however, these are just sold for looks. There are close to zero listings where fruit production/taste/etc is available.

Opuntia and cereus peruvianus can take Florida's humid summers.

Interesting.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/cactus/cactuscatalog/cactus7.html

I am really interested in planting prickly pears in western NC. I know there are native varieties but for me it's all about taste. Does anyone know of any zone 7 tolerant varieties that taste good?

Thanks!

I would highly recommend Opuntia engelmannii, at least the ones I have found growing in the wild here in Central and Southern NM. They are hardy to about Zone 5, are beautiful and robust, and very productive of large fruit (about the size of a kiwi). They are at their best here in October just before they fall off the plant.

I somehow missed this post! I will definitely check this out. Thank you!

I am really interested in finding a source where i can purchase opuntia cactus pads that produce good quality fruit. I would really like to communicate with you about different varieties and how to obtain them. My email is samlacorte@me.com. Thank you.

Where are you located Annamaria? This will dictate everything. If you are in a mild climate, you won't want to bother with one of the wild species, but should definitely get a cultivar of Opuntia ficus-indica. These should be readily available from warm-climate nurseries. If you're in a colder zone, you could try Opuntia engelmannii or related wild types. Many of these are available through mail order nurseries specializing in cacti and succulents as well as unusual edibles. I see that Edible Landscaping sells one that is hardy to zone 7. Of course, anywhere in the arid but not-too-cold western part of the country you are likely to see some growing wild or as part of landscaping. Just collect some pads from a variety of plants and wait a year or two to taste the fruit!

THANK YOU so much mmfruit for the useful information, I really appreciate it. I am located in San Jose, CA but I am growing my Opuntia cactus in Santa Cruz, CA. I currently have red, orange & white including a Cristalina pad I planted last year. They grow very well and are very productive where I have them growing. My problem is I am trying to get new varieties such as Reina, Rosa Pelona, Naranjona or other good tasting varieties. I can't seem to find good sources to purchase the pads of these specific varieties. Would you have any suggestions on how or where I could locate a source to purchase different varieties. Best Regards and thanks for all your help.

I'm sorry that I don't have any suggestions for sourcing those. It always seemed to me that because their cultivation is not in the mainstream, they are mostly available locally and informally: people sharing pads from their favorite types with one another for example.

At any rate, I'm jealous because I can't grow any of those cacti (ficus-indica) outdoors in my climate! I have kept some alive from pads collected in San Diego (unknown varieties) in pots as indoor/outdoor plants but they quickly outgrew their window spaces. The fruit was very tasty though. I have also really liked the Cristalina I have had from the store. Good luck with these wonderful plants!