Look At this cactus!

**Caribou92** · 04-16-2012, 04:33 PM

Prickly Pear fruit is good raw or cooked, just brush of spines. The pads take some preparation. There is a milky sap when you cut them open and you need to boil this off or you get something tasting like Elmer's glue.

**dalewick** · 04-17-2012, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by Oscar Wilde

Cactus in KY? .... climate change?

O.W.

Cactus in West Virginia....30 years ago.

**my64bit** · 05-05-2012, 05:58 AM

I have seen people growing them in their yards here in the PNW Oregon, and we do not have the kind of climate one would expect to find cacti thriving in.

**Bad Hand** · 05-05-2012, 11:22 PM

The milky white sap can be used as a fixative when you brush it on a painted surface like rawhide articles that you have painted using earth pigments.

**wbroz** · 05-08-2012, 10:35 PM

I grew up in Wyoming and seen them all over on the prairie. Been stuck by them many times while hunting and not watching where I stepped.

**preppinmomma** · 05-10-2012, 05:49 PM

Do you think they would grow in PA? Do they have to be cooked? If so how?

**preppinmomma** · 05-11-2012, 08:15 AM

Was looking through some old cookbooks last night. In ball's blue book(1966)there is a prickly pear jam recipe. Can anyone describe what the prickly pear tastes like?

**bullpupm2** · 05-11-2012, 10:16 PM

my memory tells me that the fruit is tart and sweet. I have had the jam before but it was most likely made with sugar for mass market appeal. If you harvest the fruit be sure to wear some leather gloves as the spines are super fine and seem to burrow into flesh easily. the flowers are beautiful yellow as well. Green cactus pads, red fruit, and yellow flowers. It is quite the succulent. To get the spines off I used a veggie peeler at first but found that a sharp knife worked just as well. Enjoy!