Hiya! I'd love a photo and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I think Opuntia fruit are just lovely. There are so many wonderful, varied fruit forming all around the various opuntias in my neighborhood--it's fun to compare and contrast the different shapes, colors and ripening times.

Most of the opuntias in my neighborhood are ripening early this year too, nearly all are almost in full color now. I'd love to see pics of yours, plus I'd love to hear what you'll do with the fruit. In the past I've just squashed them, strained them and used the juice mixed with seltzer water or iced tea for summertime drinks, but I'm sure there are more creative (and talented!) ways to use them.

Take care,
Grant

Hi Grant:

How are things up the road in PHX? Did you enjoy the haboob we sent you a while ago? (HAHAHAHA). I will post some pix tomorrow since the monsoons have returned and it is raining here east of Tucson. However, we are only up to .09" so far (however the temp whent from 104 to 77 in 20 minutes and wind from 0 to 33 mph).

Anyway, I just take the tunas, cover them with water and boil them for about 10-15 minutes. Mash them up with a potato masher and strain through cheesecloth. The finer the cheesecloth, the clearer the ultimate jelly. I make Jelly and Syrup with it (only difference is that Syrup does not have any pectin in it). Let me now if you want my Jelly recipe. It is quite easy to make, so long as you use quality pectin and use enough of it. There are a lot of bogus recipes around. Used them for Xmas presents and people begged me for more....

Right now I am experimenting with figs from my new fig trees and bird netting (after the birds ruined my apricot mini-crop this year). Figs seem to grow well down here. If you are a Facebook member, friend me and take a look at my albums. Had an interesting experience this weekend with my bird netting and local reptile wildlife. If not, let me know and I will post a URL for you to look at.

Peter

I'm noticing ours are starting to ripen as well. Yay! There's a great sunset margarita recipe I got from Scott Calhouns's Yard Full of Sun book. I love plain old lemonade too. I just Rinse them, stick them in the blender whole, then strain them through cheesecloth and the juice is ready. I hope to try out some BBQ sauce recipes this year. I'm excited to get picking! Peter, I'm curious about your reptile incident. We unfortunately found a dead lizard in our bird netting:( hopefully it will be the only one! I just put up netting around my fig tree today. We have two nearly ripe figs and lots more coming! Excited about that too, since we just planted the tree in May.

Hi Kelly:

After seeing the below album, you can go to http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150242241157971.318242.654477970&l=468f838c8f to see some fig pix. Will be trying an experiment of canning them in honey syrup today.

In regards to PP juice, I might try the blender option this year. Do you have any issues with glocids (the very small irritating spines) this way? Also, how much do you grind down the fruit (chunks, pea size, BB size, puree, etc)? When I use the boil method, it is a non-issue since the glocids melt in the presence of hot water. Where do you get your cheesecloth? How about posting the Margarita recipe?

Hooray for the monsoon's return, we got .17" yesterday.....

Peter

Here is a link that might be useful: Saturday Morning Surprise

As promised, here is a picture of an Opuntia engelmannii from my front yard. Others in the area of varying, darker shades of pinkish purple. Sorry I had to change the subject but the system would not allow multiple posts with same subject.

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Thanks for the heads up on the figs! There is a fig tree that overhangs a walkway, which I need to go check, see if I can beat the birds and other people this year.
I'd love to find a source for prickly pear to make some jelly and syrup. I think maybe Ranch Pro Market may carry them, I'll have to check. I also noticed them at the VA hospital but they'd probably not like me picking them there.

Tracy -- you don't need to buy them, just go out to the desert, with a pair of kitchen tongs and a bucket and harvest anything that looks like the picture I posted (I'd wait a week or two for further ripening). Where are you located?

Do enjoy the figs!

Peter

Hi Peter,

I would love your recipe for the jelly!

Usually I just wash them, remove the hard tops and process them in a food processor until liquefied, then strain well through a cheesecloth lined fine mesh strainer, pressing with a wooden tamper. Then freeze the juice in ice cube trays to add to water or lemonade.

I've been trying very hard to find a recipe for the fermented beverage made with the tunas called Colonche. The link below is a youtube video where the Colonche is being discussed but I don't know enough Spanish to really understand. If anyone knows the recipe I would sure love to have it.

Prickly pear juice is very cooling. It's great for keeping cool in the desert, but a person can actually take too much and develop chills and body aches.

Here is a link that might be useful: Colonche en Mexquitic

As with many of the "traditional" drinks of Mesoamerica, there are no hard and fast rules since each region would probably have their own version. So, be guided by the below and experiment. The worst that can happen is it sours and you through it away. IRT Tibicos, if you want to try using this, you should be able to get it online. Just Google it and you will see the large number of hits.

Colonche is a sweet, fizzy beverage produced in Mexico by fermenting the juice of the fruits of the prickly pear cacti - mainly Opuntia species. The procedure for preparing colonche is essentially the same as has been followed for centuries. The cactus fruits are peeled and crushed to obtain the juice, which is boiled for 2-3 hours. After cooling, the juice is allowed to ferment for a few days. Sometimes old colonche or tibicos may be added as a starter. Tibicos are gelatinous masses of yeasts and bacteria, grown in water with brown sugar. They are also used in the preparation of tepache.

Tibicos, also known as "bulgaros," are compact, gelatinous masses, with a white or yellowish color. The form and size varies. Tibicos are made up of water, bacteria and yeasts. Tibicos are consumed in many households as a refreshing beverage of low alcoholic content. In recent years, its consumption has increased dramatically, due to the popularity of Tepache made from Tibicos, a beverage frequently attributed with weight-losing properties.

You might also be interested in this link: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/fermented-cactus-juice-134965/ about Tiswin.

Finally, try this jelly recipe (and note well the comment about pectin boxes):

2 1/2 cups prickly pear cactus juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
5 cups sugar
1 box of powdered pectin (18 teaspoons (6 TBS) -note that not all pectin brands contain the same amount in a box, so measure it out to make sure)

Hard boil cactus fruit juice, pectin and lemon juice for 3 minutes. Hard boil means the point at which the brew still bubbles even when you stir it. Add sugar and bring back to a hard boil for 2 minutes or until the jell point is reached.

Put in 8 ounce canning jars, seal and heat process for 10 minutes. We followed the canning instructions on the Ball website for high-acid foods.

Peter

I have actually used Tibicos (a.k.a. 'water kefir grains') in the past. Last year I tried to ferment some prickly pear juice with it following those same instructions but for some reason was not successful.

Thank you for the jelly recipe! I will try it soon. How many 8 oz canning jars will I need?

I'm in the midst of processing a bunch of fruit that my son and I gathered today. A couple of tips if you get glochids in your skin, the best relief I have found is scrape across the skin with a razor blade (with a shaving motion, not a slicing motion!) To remove glochids from the fruit, use the green side of a dry heavy duty scrub sponge, holding the fruit with some paper toweling and using gloves. This easily polishes off the glochids and stray spines as well as the white webs of the cochineal beetles. Slice off the blossom end and the stem end where glochids can hide.

I am noticing something different about this year's fruit and wanted to ask if others have sen this. In the past I could just liquefy it with the food processor and strain out the juice. But right now I'm having a heck of a time because the juice has a lot more viscosity than usual... lots of 'slime' like the pads normally have -- like okra and slippery elm bark. Any comments welcome!

Grant I love the idea of combining the juice with seltzer water! I bet a little squeeze of lime would be great with that. :) If anyone has tips on getting glochids out of skin please share.

IRT your original question, between 5 and 7 jars.

I have found that glochids melt in hot water. So I just soak my finger (or other body part) in very hot water and they are gone....

I bet you are one of the first to make juice this year...But, considering the drought we are having, I'm not surprised things are thicker (read dryer). Couldn't you just add water before liquifying? What is the color of the slimed juice?

Regards,

Peter

The juice has a beautiful magenta color and lovely flavor. I got as much of the juice as I could and froze in an ice cube tray. I put some in a glass of ice water with a little lime juice, and the water had substantial body! I didn't find it at all unpleasant. The leftover pulp is very full of liquid so I put it in a bag in the refrigerator in the hope that there is something I can do to get more out of it. My husband also suggested adding water so I'll try that tomorrow.

Peter have you harvested any yet?

I am in love with this thread, LOL. Thanks for all of the posts, pics, and recipes. I'm definitely going to try some jelly this year too. Thanks for posting it.

There is such an amazing array of fruit in my neighborhood this year. Not all are good for making juice of course, but all are beautiful. Good ol' O. engelmannii is still my favorite.

Thanks for all of the tips about the glochids too--they're the only downside to opuntias in my opinion.

Take care all, and happy gardening (and cooking!),
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: My goofy little blog, just a few posts a month

Peter, I think you are right about the dry weather causing the juice to be thicker. Yesterday I collected another batch of tunas and they yielded their juice easily. Come to think of it, in previous years I had always collected after the rains had started. The tunas themselves weren't any more or less plump so the plant probably pumps more of the gummy sap into the fruits when the water isn't there to maintain turgidity. That's my theory, anyway. :) I collected one large size paper lunch bag's worth (about 2/3 full) of fruit (double up the paper bags and no prickers) and got about a quart of really nice juice.

Wearing nitrile gloves, using a green scrub pad to polish off the glochids and random spines, rinse well, cut off tops and very bottoms, quarter, whir in food processor, strain through cloth, pour into ice cube trays, freeze. It was easy this time. :)

mine look even darker than that picture, but I much prefer them when they're very ripe. I usually wait until well into August, even September. The ones that are left on there seem to get even better with time until about the end of Oct.
I tried the blender idea, but I didn't like the taste of it, and I think it has something to do with the blender breaking the seeds up and releasing something bitter that is in the seeds.
Also there are many varieties of Opuntia in the desert and the ripening times vary a lot. There are some near my BIL's house, that are fully ripe about halfway through July. Others aren't really edible until about Sept.
I have a big plant in my front yard that is just loaded to the max with tunas. I can't wait to make a bunch of syrup and drink it with seltzer water. The syrup and jelly make great gifts for our friends up north since it's kind of a novelty for them.

To remove the glochids, try elmers glue.