how to eat prickly pears

[gavilan]

I have just been given a large bowl full of prickly pears ... luckily with spines removed! Do I just peel and eat them ... or? ... and as there are rather a lot for one person ... ?do I keep them in the fridge til I want some more?

[Martin Page]

Taste one first ... you might not want to do anything with them ...

[gerryh]

Just peel them and eat them.
Cheers
Gerry

[casita-bonita]

Or cut them in half and scoop out with a spoon.

Be really sure that all the really tiny spiky hairs are removed. They are a bitch to remove. Had a friend who didn't and got them in his lips and tongue when he wiped his mouth. Not a pleasant experience.

Ours aren't good. They look like they should be but they are just do not taste nice. So I have to agree with the previous comment of just try one first as you may want to throw the rest in the bin.

Having said that I ate a few in Peru earlier this year and they were gorgeous..

[gavilan]

Thanks for the advice ... will try one/some tonight ... and will make sure there are no tiny spikey hairs left!

[casita-bonita]

My favourite method o de-hair them is roll them along the track for a while. just like 10 pin bowling

[gavilan]

I tried a couple last night and have to admit I was not impressed: tasteless mush wiith hard seeds within!!! ... maybe zanuck knows how to make ihem more appetising?!

[katy]

Don't keep them too long, they smell vile when over ripe.

[Wicksey]

Our neighbour has just been picking some and they are still green. I have tried ours at all stages of ripeness but haven't found them very nice at all. Quite tasteless and as Gavilan said, the seeds are really hard.

We have quite a lot of chumbos near to the house but we can't reach the fruit and it smells like they are fermenting when they drop off - they are horrible things. I fell into a one once and spent some considerable time with a pair of tweezers trying to remove the barbed spines

[gavilan]

Wicksey reminded me of the fermenting aspect of these pears ... so maybe we should be looking for some way to make an alcolholic drink from them?!

[Nimrod]

Wicksey reminded me of the fermenting aspect of these pears ... so maybe we should be looking for some way to make an alcolholic drink from them?!

Looking at it another way.......

It might be better to get drunk on something decent then eat them

[Beachcomber]

They have a disease in this area. We are in the process of destroying all of ours.

[gerryh]

They have a disease in this area. We are in the process of destroying all of ours.

How do you destroy them?
They seem resistant to the weed killers I've tried.
Cheers
Gerry

[luckyjim]

Try, wikihow.com/Eat-Prickly-Pear-Cactus. Our neigh bough when we were in the campo used to have ten for his breakfast!

[Wicksey]

They have a disease in this area. We are in the process of destroying all of ours.

Ours have an infestation of cochineal beetle.

[Mariacristina]

I read that Prickly Pears were introduced into Spain to provide food for Cochineal Beetles which were then used to produce dye for the silk industry. I thought that was very interesting but it doesn't make the fruit taste any better.

My neighbour picks them and them dumps them in a bucket of cold water overnight. She the holds them with a few thicknesses of newspaper and peels them with a sharp knife, making sure she doesn't touch them with bare skin. Easy to eat with a spoon or fork then but still a bit tasteless.

I tried throwing some in the blender and then straining and sharpening with a little lemon juice. Makes a nice cool drink, but still a lot of bother for something not very exciting.

Best use for prickly pears is to make a burglar-proof hedge with them. They need cutting back regularly though and the cuttings, dried in the sun and handled with care' burn well in the winter.

[gavilan]

I have also heard that local people grow them to make fire breaks/protection around the house or land ... and a friend told me that they can be very nice with olive oil, salt and black pepper ...

[william svan]

are they really that bad to you?

i had them mixed with milk and honey and that was good It has a lot of healthy vitamins and oxidants as well like the Granada fruit.

[zanuck]

I tried a couple last night and have to admit I was not impressed: tasteless mush wiith hard seeds within!!! ... maybe zanuck knows how to make them more appetising?!

Just seen this and I am at a loss as how to take it.

I think the only time I have tried PPs was when we first came to this area and cut one in half and scooped out with a spoon but cannot recall how it tasted.

[luckyjim]

Try, wwww.simply recipes.com. How to cut and prepare prickly pears.