Folkways
Radio for a Wide Range
Serving Far West Texas at 93.5 FM
Prickly Pear Cactus:
by Marie French
P
rickly pear cactus loves the Big
Bend – Golden Spined prickly pear,
Texas prickly pear, Englemann prick-
ly pear, Cows Tongue prickly pear, Purple
prickly pear, Plains prickly pear, Purple Fruit
prickly pear, Spiny Fruit prickly pear, Blind
prickly pear – so many prickly pears in the Big
Bend of Far West Texas.
Prickly pear is easy to propagate. They
drop their pads on our gravely, clayey soil and
root. To propagate these for yourself, all you
need to do is pick up a pad, with leather gloves
or tongs. Then let it sit out of dirt and callus
over for three to five days. Lastly, put it right
into the ground. You don’t even have to water
it; actually it’s better if you don’t for at least a
week. In about three weeks, it will root and
start its own family.
Prickly pear has many practical uses. It has
been used from time immemorial for medici-
nal purposes. When the pads are cut open
they are a soothing poultice for wounds, burns
and bruises. They are being researched for
medicine for diabetes as well.
The Navajos dyed their wool in the
uncooked juices of the prickly pear fruit for
about a week. It would produce a magenta
pink color that would fade somewhat in the
sun. Nowadays, you can presoak the wool in
soda ash or alum to make the color fast.
Prickly pear has also been valued as a
windbreak and soil stabilizer.
Many feel that the prickly pear is a weed
and must be eradicated. However; it is the
weeds that stabilize the soil until the land can
repair itself after periods of abuse. Land is not
meant to be monocropped. The land will
always introduce weeds within the monocrop
to stabilize a landscape, in order for it to be
productive and supply needed life-sustaining
nutrients for wildlife.
If you wonder why the prickly pear seems
so prevalent, it’s because much of the land has
been degraded. The prickly pear offers itself
as a quick propagator, soil stabilizer, food for
humans and livestock, dyes and fruit, beautiful
flowers and as a windbreak that allows other
plants to grow around it.
So instead of trying to remove it from the
landscape, perhaps it’s time we saw the hum-
ble prickly pear’s important attributes.
There are many delicious ways you can
prepare prickly pear. Try these:
The Genus Opuntia
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401 N. 5th Street • Alpine TX 79830
(432)837-5999
Representing work by
Charles Bell • Karl Glocke
Ling Dong • Carlos Campana
Hours vary or by appointment
Art and Guitar classes • Weekend workshops offered
Hand-painted signs and graphics
Fried Nopalitos
1 cup nopalitios (prickly pear pads, small, with the
thorns taken off with a sharp knife)
1/3 cup wheat flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
1 tsp chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil
Place flour, cornmeal and seasonings in a plastic
bag, shake bag to mix. Drop in nopalitos, and shake
until well coated. Heat oil in a skillet and fry until gold-
en brown…Serve with eggs for a yummy Southwestern
breakfast.
In the summer, the blooms will produce
red to purple fruits (tunas) on the pads. It’s
time to make prickly pear jelly!
Needleworks,
Etc.
Fine ladies apparel
Prickly Pear Jelly
15-30 tunas - skin and take thorns off with stones
or a knife. Make sure you don’t pick these with bare
hands or you’ll get a handful of thorns. Make sure you
only pick ripe fruits.
Lemon or lime juice
Powdered pectin
Sugar to taste, about a cup and half
Remove spines. Mash the fruits, and follow the
directions on the pectin box.
121 W. Holland • Alpine, Texas
M-F 10 am ‘til 6 pm • Sat. 10 am ‘til 4 pm
432/837-3085
Cenizo
Third Quarter 2010
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