The Prickly Pear Cactus

Provided by: Jorbins.com

When you are planning your cactus garden you will want to consider adding some Prickly Pear cacti to it.

The prickly pear cacti like sunny well drained areas. If the soil they are planted in has excellent drainage they can tolerate quite a bit of water as well. Be sure and make sure it gets some protection from cold winter winds for best results.

The flowers that proceed the ripened fruit are very beautiful you will often see brilliant tones of yellows, oranges, pinks, and reds. The fruit will start forming as the blooms fade.

This cactus has large flat oval pads and the fruit that is both edible and beautiful will often be red, yellow, or purple.

You will hear people say they think it tastes like kiwi, strawberry, watermelon, and other various tastes. This usually depends on the variety of prickly pear that has been planted.

When it comes time to pick the fruit you may want to use kitchen tongs. Twist the fruit rather than pull it.

People often make jelly from this cacti because of the great flavor. A few tips on this include removing blossoms and fine thorns before cutting it into pieces to boil. This makes it easier when it comes to mashing and straining it.

A general rule of thumb would be 2 cups of prickly pear juice, 2 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 tsp of lemon juice (fresh is best), and one package of powdered pectin.

We like this cactus for a lot of reasons but probably the beauty of the blossoms and fruit are the biggest reason why we like to see them in our cactus garden.