Prickly Pear: FOOD OF THE DESERT
by Maya Zniewski. Photographs by Chloe Peppercorn.
T
he desert appears to be lifeless
and dull in the winter, but those
who reside in the Big Bend
know better. There is an abundance of
delectable foods on the prickly pear
Cactus alone. Indian Fig Opuntia (O.
ficus-indica), known as Prickly Pear,
offers three parts to harvest for food:
the flowers (good in salads), the paddles
or nopales and the buds or tunas. Here
are several recipes with flavors that
remind us that summer will be here
soon enough. You can garden while
the oven or crock pot does the work,
then have an after-dinner drink and
enjoy the quiet and solitude. All these
recipes have the prickly pear as one of
the ingredients.
Many of us know about nopales
scrambled with eggs for breakfast.
Here are some new ways of cooking
these wonderful desert edibles. You
can go outside and pick your own, oth-
erwise canned nopales will work just
fine.
Prickly Pear tunas also make great
smoothies. Peel them like you would a
tomato, really watching out for those
spines.
Prickly Pear Breakfast Smoothie
3 peeled and chopped tunas
2 cups berries (apple and orange do not
work well)
1 Tablespoon honey
1 cup plain yogurt
Blend well. Makes two servings,
share with a friend.
Summer Citrus Salad
Tuna fruit salad with mint is a fabu-
lous summertime treat.
2 peeled and sliced tunas
1 orange or grapefruit, peeled
and sectioned
3-4 fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon honey
24
Mix well. Garnish with Prickly Pear
flower petals. Makes two servings.
Cenizo
Slow Roasted Prickly Pear Pork
1 (3 pound) boneless pork roast
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 nopales pads, spines removed,
cut into strips
1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped tunas
Preheat oven to 325’ or get out your
crock pot. Sprinkle salt and pepper on
pork roast and brown in a large pan
over medium-high heat until a golden
crust appears. This should take about
five minutes per side. Place roast in a
crock pot or large oven-proof pan, add
nopales and tunas. Add salt and pep-
per to taste. Cover. Roast at 325’ for
Second Quarter 2014
three hours or
until internal tem-
perature is at least
145’. You can
cook this meal in
a crock pot on
low for 6-8 hours
or on high for 3-4
hours.
Either
way, make sure to
brown the meat
ahead of time.
Browning makes
everything better.
I serve this
with Hawaiian
rice. Just do up
your rice as usual
and add about a
half
cup
of
canned pineapple
and a quarter cup
of dried cranber-
ries for every four
cups of prepared
rice. Yum!
I also highly
recommend hav-
ing a vodka and
tuna
blended
drink or tuna-
infused
vodka
(both
recipes
below) with this.
With leftovers (if there are any) you
can make a great roast pork sandwich
with jalapeño bread. Just add chopped
jalapeño peppers to your favorite
bread recipe.
Prickly Pear Vodka
It is easy to infuse vodka with prick-
ly pear tunas. Who said science wasn’t
fun? Procure a clean glass jar with a
tight lid. Mason jars work well, but so
does any other glass jar, as long as you
can get the lid and jar clean Score the
skin on harder fruit and leave softer
fruit whole. Remove any spines and
wash the tunas well. Cut into quarters.
The size of the chopped bits doesn’t
really matter, a rough chop is just fine.
Add one or two chopped prickly pears
to one quart vodka. After three days
test your vodka to see if it is the right
flavor for you. If you want a stronger
flavor, wait another two days. Test
again. I like mine infused for about five
days. When the taste is to your liking,
strain off the tunas and store the vodka
in clear glass for a pretty look. Imagine
a refreshing tuna infused vodka tonic.
This makes great gifts! For a gift you
could do a prickly pear basket with
your own tuna infused vodka, a bottle
of tonic and a potted Prickly Pear.
Prickly Pear Sunshine
Try this recipe if you prefer your
cocktail fancy.
1 cup ice cubes
1 oz. cactus juice schnapps
(or other sweet liquor)
1 oz. light rum
3 oz. pineapple juice
2 oz. orange juice
1 oz. cranberry juice
1 peeled tuna
Blend all ingredients. Makes 1 large
drink. YUM!
You can also add a slice of tuna,
without the spines of course, to a beer
instead of a lime.
Prickly pear lemonade is a great hot
weather refresher. Just mix lemonade
as you usually would, replacing 25 per-
cent of the water with an equal amount
of tuna juice. This makes a lovely pink
lemonade. To juice the tunas, peel and
chop them and squeeze the juice out
using a food mill or a potato ricer. Add
a shot of tequila to your glass for the
flavors of a second desert plant.
Cranberry Pecan Cupcakes
Frost these cupcakes with tuna juice
in cream cheese frosting.
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh
or frozen cranberries
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided