I learned something new the other day that will help me in my never ending quest to find natural sources of nutrition while in the outdoors. In Arizona we are "blessed" with an abundance of plants that are always trying to stab, stick and injure us, so now is the time we finally get to strike back! One of the most edible plants we have throughout Arizona is the prickly pear cactus. The prickly pear cactus provides us with a few different parts we can eat. First the fruit, the pinkish, purplish and sometime white part that grows out like a flower. All you have to do to enjoy the fruit is remove the outer layer, taking special care to remove all the spines, especially the small hair like ones. There are many ways to use the fruit from simply eating it, to turning it into jam, jelly, sorbet, or wine. The other part of the plant we can eat is the pad or main part of the plant. If you are in a survival situation I would recommend cleaning off all the thorns, peeling the outer layer back and enjoying. If you are eating them at home or in a more controlled environment you can boil them, bake them, grill them or add them to other foods such as salads, omelets or tacos. The pad of the prickly pear can also be a good source of much needed liquid while out hiking in the heat.
You can say that again about the little "hairs" on the fruit. The juice is about the sweetest of any fruit I have ever eaten, but the hairs will mess you up. Take for example the day I took a girlfriend out into the desert to show off my outdoor knowledge. We picked a fruit, I peeled it carefully with a knife and some needlenose pliers, then we ate of its goodness. Problem is, I didn't wipe off the knife carefully enough between the peeling away of the skin and the cutting up and serving of the fruit. Needless to say, I got a lip full of nearly invisible thorns. As the evening progressed, those little buggers became unwelcome guests as the sun set and we leaned over to celebrate our desert prowess! Not likely to forget that lesson--or that evening!
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