Prickly pear

Browse All Prickly pear Recipes

Name Variations

 * Indian fig
 * Indian pear
 * barbary fig
 * tuna
 * cactus pear

About Prickly pear
Wikipedia Article About Prickly pear on Wikipedia

Opuntia is a genus in the cactus family Cactaceae. Both prickly pears and chollas are included in this genus of about 250 species distributed throughout most of the New World. The type species of the genus is the Indian Fig Opuntia Opuntia ficus-indica (most culinary uses of the term "prickly pear" are referring to that plant).

Prickly pears, classified in the subgenus Opuntia, typically grow with flat, rounded segments that are armed with two kinds of spines; large, smooth, fixed spines and small, almost hairlike spines called glochids that easily penetrate skin and detach from the plant. Many types of prickly pear can grow into dense, tangled structures. Prickly pears species are found in abundance in the Southwest and Western United States, and also throughout much of Mexico. Prickly pears are also the only types of cacti normally found in the eastern United States. They are the most cold-tolerant of the cacti, extending north into southern Canada. One species, Opuntia fragilis var. fragilis, extends into northern Canada, and has been found growing along the Beatton River, SW of Cecile Lake at 56° 17’ N latitude and 120° 39’ W longitude, in the province of Alberta.

Buying Prickly pear
As with any fruit, you can get ridiculously expensive Prickly pears or ordinary decently priced ones. Depending on what type of dish you are preparing, you might want to adjust your cooking budget to the type of Prickly pears you need. In general, the cost of Prickly pears is perfectly acceptable by any standards and they are often considered some of the most accessible fruits you can use in your fruit salads or deserts. Depending on different cuisines and regions of the world, Prickly pears may be considered a common fruit or a delicacy. Most European countries, for example, don’t see Prickly pears as an expensive and hard-to-get fruit, bur some African countries might rarely use them in their traditional dishes. Although in extreme cases Prickly pears will not be available at all, because of imports, many countries that don’t traditionally grow them always have a full and fresh supply of Prickly pears on the fruit market.

Preparing Prickly pear
There are so many ways in which you can use Prickly pears in your culinary arts. Prickly pear preparation methods and dish types differ from one region to another, and many people are experiencing this fruit in a totally different way than what they were used to when they taste a national cuisine dish belonging to another country. Most of the dishes containing Prickly pears are desserts and snacks, but some countries also use them in combination with salty items such as meat or Fruits. Prickly pears are widely appreciated in many national cuisines, and this is clearly seen in the diversity of methods that chefs all over the world created for their preparation.

Cooking Prickly pear
One of the most important elements that define any fruit preparation method today involves the cooking time. The faster you can cook a certain fruit, the more popular it is, it seems. Prickly pears are mostly used for filling for cakes and pastry items, but there are diverse ways of preparing them. Compotes using this fruit are often very popular in many cuisines and the nutritious values of Prickly pears are often saved through smart preservation techniques. While in most cases, preparing Prickly pears for a dessert or a drink will not take more than a few minutes, you can also boil them and use them as such in various main meals and desserts. When boiling, you should also take into consideration the particular type of Prickly pear you are using, as some are firmer than others and take longer to prepare.