Prickly pear
Opuntia spp.
fruit
The oval fruit of a Mexican cactus, the nopal, naturalised around the Mediterranean; its juicy flesh, orange, red or green, is studded with crunchy seeds. 100 g provide 3.6 g of fibre, with betalains. Its skin bears tiny spines, glochids: peel it with gloves.
- Origin
- Mexico, naturalized around the Mediterranean
- Season (United States)
- all year round · grows in your region
- Preparation
- Its almost invisible spines, the glochids, sting: it is peeled with a knife and fork, without touching it. The seeds are eaten. Its oxalates leach into water: boiling it and throwing the water out takes a good share with it.
- Did you know?
- This cactus is also grown to raise cochineal, an insect that yields a red dye — a practice from before Columbus, already listed in Aztec tribute rolls.