I have often made jelly or preserves from prickly pear cactus fruits (tunas) and everyone loves it, though it takes a good deal of work. My specific choice is what I know as Englemanii linguiformis (Cow's tongue) cactus which has large, long pads that narrow toward the top, and yield larger, darker purple fruits. I'm delighted to know that the yellow barrel cactus fruits are also edible. I've mostly seen these used as landscape plants near commercial enterprises here in El Paso, Tx. If prickly pear cactus jelly is "gourmet", surely barrel cactus jelly would be as rare as truffles. Here is a link that might be useful: Webshots: Barnchaser

This is an update to my 2006 list. We've added many more varities and most things are fruiting now. FRUIT & SPICE TREES Acai Palm Allspice Ambarella Apple Anna Apple Dorset Golden Atemoya Gefner Grafted Avacado Haas Avacado Fuerte Banana Bay Rum Blackberry Black Sapote Seedless Black Walnut Blueberry Blueberry Gulf Coast Blueberry Sharp Blueberry Windsor Cocao Calomondin Camellia Sinesis, Tea Cashew Apple Cercropia Cherry Black Grafted Surinam Cherry Grumichama Cherry Rio Grand Cherry Barbados Cherry Dwarf Barbados Chestnut Malibar Cinnamon Coffee Dragon Fruit Eucalyptus Eugenia Confusa Fig Brown Turkey Fig Green Isha Fig Kadota Goji Berry Grapefruit Pink Grapefruit Yellow Grapes Bunch Grapes Muscadine Guave Chattey Guava Pineaple Guava Ruby Guava Strawberry Guava Jaboticaba Joy Perfume Michelia Champaca Jujube Katok Kiwi Tomuri m&f Lemon Harvey Lemon Sambukan Lemon Varigated Pink Lime Key Lime Kaffir Lime Persian Lime Red Longan Kahola Loquat Lychee Hakip Lychee Maritius Mango Mango Carrie MANGOSTEEN Michelia Alba Michela Champaca Miracle Fruit Mombin Red Monstera Deliciosa Moringa (Horseradish Tree) Mulberry Dwarf Mulberry Shangrila Natal Plum Nectarine Sun Raycer Neem Olive Fremtoya Orange Orange Dwarf Navel Orange Red Blood Orange Ortanique Orange Tarocco Blood Papaya Passionfruit Yellow Peach Red Cylon Peach Tropic Beauty Peanut Butter Fruit Pear Pear Pineapple Persimmon Ichibe Juro Persimmon Triumph Pineapple, Golden Pistachio Plantain Plum Gulf Rose Pomegranate Dwarf Pomegranate Vietnamese Rambutan Rose Apple Spanish Lime Strawberry Strawberry Tree Sugar Cane Tamarind Tangelo Tangerine Murcott Tangerine Satsuma Wax Jambu Thai Red Sunset White Sapote Yerba Mate HERBS Allheal Alow Arnica Montana Anise hyssop Bacopa Bacopa, Lemon Basils, Greek Columnar, Lemon, Lettuce Leaf, Lime, Sweet Bay Tree Bay Rum Bergamot (Monarda) Betel Betony Borage Calendula Camelia sinesis Caper bush Cardamom Catnip Chives, Garlic & Onion Cilantro Comfrey Coriander Culantro Curry Plant Daisy Dill, Boquet & Fernleaf Echinacea Fennel, Bronze & Sweet Feverfew Fuschia Galangal True Gardenia Garlic Society Geranium, Apple, Citronella, Lemon Sculpture, Rose Ginger Ginkgo Goji Berries Gotu kola Greek mountain tea Gynura Henna Hibiscus, Edible & False Roselle Honeysuckle Horseradish Jasmine Arabian Tea & Confederate Lambs Ear Lavender Lemon balm Lemon grass Lemon verbena LionÂs tail Marjoram Marshmallow Mint, Apple, Berries & Cream, Blackberry, Chocolate, Citrus kitchen, Corsican, Costa rican Kama Sutra, Cotton candy, English, Grapefruit, Hazelnut, Italian spice, JimÂs Fruit, Lavender. Lemon sweet, Margarita, MarilynÂs Salad, Mojito, Mountain, Orange Bergamot Oregano thyme, Pennyroyal, Spearmint, Sweet pear, Wintergreen, Yerba buena Monarda Moujean tea/Bahama Berry/Pineapple Verbena Mullein Murraya koeniggi Myrtle greek Nasturtium Oregano, Cuban, Italian, Mexican Pandanus Amaryllifolius Papalo Parsley, Curled & Flat Leaf Pepper, Black Pepper Vine, Chili, Habernero, Jalapeno, Ornamental, Red Pepper Vine, Tabasco Perilla Purslane Root beer plant Rose, Bon Silene Tea, Champneys pink cluster, Climbing don juan, Double red, Moanne lombard, Red cascade, Safrano, Treasure blend hybrid Rosemary, Romero, Spice island, Victorian Sage, Common, Diviners, Grape scented, Mexican, Pineapple Savory Spice bush, Lindera Benzoin Spilanthese Spinach, Malabar & Okinawa Star anise Stevia St johns wort Sugar cane Sushini Sweet almond verbena Tarragon Tea olive Thyme, English, Lemon Tilo Tomatoes Turmeric Violet sweet Yarrow Yerba mate Zaatar Zuta levana WATER PLANTS Bacopa, lemon Cattail Celer, water Chestnut, water Mint, water I'm working on a website with photos of our property in all stages of bloom and slowly working on a book for zone 9 edible gardening. We've had luck with almost everything we've tried. I'm happy to answer any questions about growing in tropical zones. Happy growing, Kelly

Over the last year I've added 2 varieties of apples, purple leafed plum, lavenders, german chamomile, roman chamomile, chicory, yarrow, elderberry, wolfberry, another hazelnut, borage, garlic, and comfrey, as well as veggies like peppers, tomatoes, radishes, scarlet runner beans, and I've just sown 2 varieties of kale. I added some things a bit late (I just recently found out about edible forest gardens!), so I may need to replace a couple of things that look iffy. This fall I'm hoping to add raspberries, thornless blackberries, red currants, grape vine, and a mulberry.

This sounds like lots of fun and I want to join. but it makes more sense to me to make groups of eleven and send everyone back 10 packs of seeds the same as they sent out. this way every person gets 10 new packs instead of 9 new ones. 11 in each group works better. 11 people send in 10 packs for total of 110 packs. then you send back 10 packs to each of 11 people because you have 110 packs. the 10 and 9 does not work correctly. the 11 and 10 works correctly. the way it is now 10 people send in 10 seeds for 100 packs and you send back 9 packs to 10 people for 90 packs. 10 packs go dead on arrival and are wasted. the math does not work with groups of 10. the math works correctly with 11 in each group where everyone sends in 10 packs. with your method we should only send in 9 packs. I am an applied mathematician. I have this correct. I hope to see this rule changed for 2014. to eleven in each group.