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<p style="font-variant: small-caps; text-align: center; margin-bottom:.2em; font-size: 105%;">'''[[:Category:Prickly pear Recipes|Browse All Prickly pear Recipes]]'''</p></div> |
<p style="font-variant: small-caps; text-align: center; margin-bottom:.2em; font-size: 105%;">'''[[:Category:Prickly pear Recipes|Browse All Prickly pear Recipes]]'''</p></div> |
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+ | [[Image:picklypears.jpg|thumb|300px|Prickly pears]] |
| − | ==Name Variations== |
+ | == Name Variations == |
* Indian fig |
* Indian fig |
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* Indian pear |
* Indian pear |
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* cactus pear |
* cactus pear |
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| − | ==About Prickly pear== |
+ | == About Prickly pear == |
Wikipedia Article [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prickly_pear About Prickly pear on Wikipedia] |
Wikipedia Article [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prickly_pear About Prickly pear on Wikipedia] |
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| + | A pear-shaped fruit, also known as the cactus pear, that is produced from the tropical cactus plant known as the Prickly Pear cactus. The fruit begins as a flower, growing out from the cactus leaf pad or "paddle," and maturing into an oval shaped, sweet tasting fruit. The color of the flower will generally be the color of the fruit. The outer skin is tough and prickly, containing tiny sharp spines, thus the name "prickly." The spines are typically removed during processing if they have not fallen off as the fruit ripens. With a soft porous inner flesh, similar to watermelon, containing randomly spaced black seeds, this pear provides a melon or berry aroma with a sweet and mild flavor. |
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| − | 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). |
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| − | 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. |
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| + | == See also == |
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| + | * [[Nopale]] |
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[[Category:Exotic fruit]] |
[[Category:Exotic fruit]] |
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Latest revision as of 20:51, 10 February 2011
Prickly pears
Name Variations
- Indian fig
- Indian pear
- barbary fig
- tuna
- cactus pear
About Prickly pear
Wikipedia Article About Prickly pear on Wikipedia
A pear-shaped fruit, also known as the cactus pear, that is produced from the tropical cactus plant known as the Prickly Pear cactus. The fruit begins as a flower, growing out from the cactus leaf pad or "paddle," and maturing into an oval shaped, sweet tasting fruit. The color of the flower will generally be the color of the fruit. The outer skin is tough and prickly, containing tiny sharp spines, thus the name "prickly." The spines are typically removed during processing if they have not fallen off as the fruit ripens. With a soft porous inner flesh, similar to watermelon, containing randomly spaced black seeds, this pear provides a melon or berry aroma with a sweet and mild flavor.