Thursday, June 4, 2009

Prickly pears


The Latin name is Opuntia ficus-indica. G happened upon a few of these fruit in his travels, growing on a cactus at the side of a road somewhere and brought them home. I'd not tried them before, he'd had them ages ago in Morocco. The fruit is best described as tasting like a melon crossed with pomegranate and the texture of a firm persimmon, slightly gritty (seeds inside). I would imagine on a hot summer day, eating these chilled would be very good. The only downside is the prickles! Great care required in picking and peeling them. G says the Moroccans used a piece of bamboo split around the top to open it into a cone shape to pick them. We've saved some seed and will try to grow our own plants if we can germinate them successfully.

2 comments:

Amy said...

yum, it sounds delicious, I've never tried it

Cabbage Tree Farm said...

Hi Amy, not sure how common they are in NZ. Hope we can get some plants going.