Nopal
Opuntia spp.
vegetable · prebiotic
Young fleshy pads of the prickly pear, a Mexican cactus, stripped of their spines then cooked or grilled; slightly tart, with a thickening mucilage. They provide mucilage, calcium and betalains.
- Origin
- Mexico
- Season (United States)
- all year round · grows in your region
- Preparation
- The fine, invisible spines — the glochids — are the real problem, not the big ones: pass the pad through a flame or scrape it with a knife before slicing. Its oxalates leach into water: boiling it and throwing the water out takes a good share with it.
- Did you know?
- It appears in the coat of arms on the Mexican flag: the eagle there is perched on a nopal.