Page 102 - The Forager’s Guide to Wild Foods
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Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia
ficus-indica (CACTACEAE)
Heather Barnes
Forest and Kim Starr, CC-BY-3.0
PRICKLY PEAR, also known as Barbary Fig, Indian it rains.
Fig, and Tuna Cactus, is a desert growing, succulent PRICKLY PEAR CASSEROLE: (recipe credit: Mark
cactus, 5 to 10 ft. (1-3m) tall (but can grow up to 15 “Merriwether” Vorderbruggen, Ph.D.): Ingredients:
ft. tall). 2 cups diced wild mushrooms, ¼ cup onion, 4 cups
FLOWER: Yellow, white, or red blooms appear in ear- young prickly pear pads (sliced into 1” long, ¼” wide
ly May through the summer with fruits, called tunas, sections), 2 cups milk, 3 tbsp. cornstarch, 5 tbsp. but-
forming in August-October. ter,1 ⅓ cup French fried onions, salt & pepper. Option-
PAD: Thick, oblong, flat, pear-shaped stem segments al: wine, red pepper flakes. Remove thorns and nee-
or pads called cladodes are blue to green, while new dles from pads, then place the pads in ice water for
growth at the ends of the stems is bright green. They 15 min.; remove from water and slice pads. Sauté in
are 8-24 inches (20-60cm) long and 4-16 inches 2 tbsp. of butter with a dash of salt until tender. Set
(10-40cm) wide. Pads are succulent, with a thick, aside. Sauté the onions, puree them with the milk, add
waxy, water repellent skin; may be spineless, or the mushrooms, then scald in a double-boiler. Lightly
may bear a number of yellow 1-inch (2.5cm) spines. brown 3 tbsp. of the cornstarch in 3 tbsp. of butter,
stirring the whole time, and occasionally removing
EDIBLE PARTS: fruit and pads
from heat to avoid burning it. Add salt and pepper to
KEY MEDICINAL USES: Topical uses are treatment of the cornstarch “roux”, then slowly stir in the scalded
burns and wounds.
milk/onion/mushroom blend. The end goal is a cream
HOW TO HARVEST AND EAT: Fruits are best har- soup similar in thickness to cream of mushroom soup.
vested in late summer and eaten raw, with or without Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and wine to taste
the plentiful seeds, scooped out of their hard shell. while maintaining the proper consistency. Transfer
The fruit has a high vitamin C content and high-water mushroom cream into a casserole dish and stir in the
content so it is valuable as an emergency food source. sautéed pieces of prickly pear cactus. Bake the cas-
Pads are eaten raw or cooked, either with their skins serole uncovered 25 min. at 350°F (175°C). Remove
or without; are often cut into strips and boiled or from oven, stir a bit, then sprinkle on the French-fried
fried, with a taste like string beans with a little tang- onions. Return to oven for another 5 min. at 350°F
iness. Pads are best harvested in the spring or after (175°C). Remove and serve.
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